§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government are taking to construct satisfactory criteria to be met by all computer codes which may be used as part of the decision-making processes involving public safety.
§ Mr. ForthThe Government are particularly concerned to ensure that safety-related systems are constructed to satisfactory standards; the identification and apportionment of risk attributable to software within systems is part of this process. They are actively taking steps to encourage the development of suitable standards and guidelines, at both national and international levels, to be met by all systems incorporating software on which public safety may in some way depend. The work is motivated not by a recognition of particular present dangers; rather by a desire to anticipate and forestall hazards which may arise with the very rapid pace of technical change.
Activity is being co-ordinated by a working group of the Interdepartmental Committee on Software Engineering (ICSE) on which all interested Government Departments are represented.
The working group, drawing on expertise from outside Government, is currently devising a strategy which includes the development of a requirement for harmonised standards applicable to the civil and defence sectors. The strategy will also embrace research and development, education and training, and the encouragement of technology transfer to equip software producers for the high quality of work to be demanded. The ICSE work on safety-related software is a particular aspect of the efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry to encourage
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Number of inward investment decisions Regional breakdown Scotland Number of projects New jobs Safeguarded jobs Total jobs (New jobs + Safeguarded jobs) Government assistance (£ million) 1979 28 (15.3) 2,757 (19.3) n/a 2,757 (19.3) 15.8 1980 31 (20.0) 4,474 (24.0) n/a 4,474 (24.0) 18.8 1981 28 (21.0) 5,756 (35.1) n/a 5,756 (35.1) 22.1 1982 28 (21.0) 2,258 (21.4) n/a 2,258 (21.4) 13.6 higher quality software in general through the promotion of best practice, support for standards-making, and the establishment of certification schemes where appropriate.
A number of studies have recently been carried out, for example, by the Health and Safety Executive, and jointly by the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the British Computer Society (with financial support from the Department of Trade and Industry). The recommendations resulting from this work are being considered by ICSE in the development of its strategy. In particular, ICSE is working on a standards framework proposed by the Health and Safety Executive, which will take into account interim defence standards 00–55 (requirements for the procurement of safety critical software in defence equipment) and 00–56 (requirements for the analysis of safety critical hazards) as well as international standards currently being produced. The framework which eventually emerges from the ICSE work will, after normal consultation with United Kingdom industry, be presented to the International Electro Technical Commission, a body with a wide membership, whose responsibilities include the production of international standards for computer-based systems and the software used therein.