HC Deb 04 March 1998 vol 307 cc1044-5
6. Mr. Todd

What steps he will take to improve the efficiency of data management in Government. [30869]

Mr. Kilfoyle

The central information technology unit in my Department has established a Government secure intranet service, which will enable the secure exchange of electronic communications between Government Departments to improve the efficiency of data management in government.

Mr. Todd

In an earlier answer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster referred to the shambles of information technology management left as a heritage by the previous Government. One of the critical areas in dealing with that is the imposition of coherent standards in data management. What steps are being taken to ensure that we not only set standards but enforce them and that we collect information on the various technologies used within government to store data?

Mr. Kilfoyle

My hon. Friend will be aware that there are about 132 separate registrations for a simple matter like a name. We are seeking to simplify that in a way similar to that used by our competitors in Asia. In Singapore, one can have one's name and address changed through the information technology that is available with one call on government. Currently there is a plethora of different systems. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is taking forward the work of maintaining the information technology with the millennium bug in mind and we are taking the opportunity to look at information technology across a whole range of Government Departments.

Mrs. Gillan

May I suggest that the Minister starts with his own Department when improving the efficiency of data management? Is he aware that the summary of departmental plans to deal with the year 2000 computer problem does not tally with the back-up papers provided by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which contain omissions and vague information? Will the Minister ask his right hon. Friend to withdraw the quarterly statement that was slipped out yesterday by way of a written answer and to give to this critical and increasingly costly programme the detailed attention that it requires? If he cannot transfer data accurately from one piece of paper to another, how can we have confidence in his ability to solve the 2000 problem?

Mr. Kilfoyle

First, I remind the hon. Lady that it was not on paper—it was on CD-ROM. The important point for Opposition Members to recognise is that this is too serious a matter for them to try political point scoring from it. We are making all the appropriate efforts to ensure compliance in respect of the millennium bug problem, which is a problem that raised its head long before 1 May 1997. To charge my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with anything less than the appropriate industry and application in trying to resolve the problem and make information available to the House is churlish of the hon. Lady.