Spend on the government’s under-pressure G-Cloud service has now hit £22m after several sizeable deals were signed off in April, including a spend of £1.3m with IBM by the Home Office.

The figure marks an increase of around £4m from the £18m that had been spent on the service by March and comes amid pressure on the platform to demonstrate more value for money, having failed to really ignite interest in the public sector since its launch a year ago.

This was driven by deals such as those won by IBM, as well notable others such as a deal worth £68,000 signed off by the Cabinet Office with Steria and a deal worth £205,000 signed off by the Ministry of Justice with system integrator firm i2N.

V3 contacted the Home Office for details of the services it purchased from IBM but had received no reply at the time of publication. IBM had also not responded.

While the increase proves the public sector is still interested in the platform, the number is a tiny amount when compared to the overall spend of government IT and won’t do much to relieve the pressure on the service.

On Monday Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude admitted the service was ‘underused’ and the head of the service Denise McDonaugh announced she was stepping down from managing the G-Cloud as it moves to the Government Digital Services division.