Government freezes iPhone application development

The government has been criticised for its iPhone app development spending

The government has promised a spending freeze on all iPhone application development, after it was revealed that the previous administration had been laying out tens of thousands on a range of apps.

A Freedom of Information request by the BBC showed that the cost of development started at £10,000, and that the most expensive app was the DVLA Motoring Masterclass, costing a whopping £40,000 to create.

The DVLA app would have allowed citizens to renew car tax, change address and update their licence, but further development is on hold, according to a DVLA spokesman.

Other applications in the pipeline would have offered travel advice, and the NHS-backed Quit Smoking and Drinks Tracker apps cost £10,000 each to develop, according to the BBC.

Campaign groups were quick to express their anger at the revelations.

"It seems that many government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be cutting back on self-indulgent wastes of money," said Mark Wallace, campaign director at the TaxPayers' Alliance.

"It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security.

"Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime, isn't going to get any reassurance from knowing there's an app for that."