§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what consideration his Department has given to possible confusion concerning the status and standing of BSi QA within the information technology industry.
§ Mr. LeighBSi Quality Assurance is a commercial business offering certification services. As it forms part of the British Standards Institution it could he perceived that BSi QA is the only body which may offer certification to British Standards. In fact, a number of other certification bodies have also been accredited to offer such services and yet others may apply in the future. Officials in my Department take every opportunity to advise enquirers from the IT industry that competition exists in the market for certification services, and that the DTI QA register contains names and addresses of all the certification bodies and the services they offer. The register is available from HMSO and a copy is located in the House of Commons Library.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment has been made of the costs of establishing IT certification conducted by qualified IT-literate specialists relative to the costs of damage done by low IT-skilled auditors.
§ Mr. LeighIT-literate specialists are now able to qualify as auditors for software quality management system certification following introduction of the TickIT scheme. This scheme was initiated at the behest of both the United Kingdom information technology industry and IT users more widely. My Department has supported development of the TickIT Guide, TickIT auditor qualifications, a professional auditor register, and auditor training course material. The scheme seeks to improve the standard of IT 503W quality management system—QMS—auditing and to date more than 35 auditors have qualified under the TickIT scheme.
Both IT suppliers and users perceive considerable benefit in the use of qualified IT professionals as auditors, because added value can accrue through having experienced IT practitioners examine and comment on company QMS. The cost/benefit of this approach is also evident through the enthusiasm with which industry at large is beginning to adopt TickIT, and more than 60 companies have achieved certification under this scheme.
A copy of the TickIT guide is located in the House of Commons Library.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of the number, and names of all TickIT-accredited bodies which have gained full acceptance by the European Organisation for Testing and Certification.
§ Mr. LeighEOTC is the European Organisation for Testing and Certification. It is an umbrella body which oversees ECITC—the European Committee on information technology certification—a sectoral committee which in turn oversees the ITQS agreement group, the recognition arrangement for assessment and certification of quality systems in information technology. Agreement groups comprise signatories to arrangements for the mutual recognition of certificates relating to the provision of services. ITQS has as its remit the certification of IT quality management systems, using a common set of rules based on European and International standards.
There are four certification bodies accredited for TickIT in the United Kingdom—BSi Quality Assurance, Bureau Veritas Quality International Ltd, Det Norske Veritas Quality Assurance, of which the first named is also a member of EOTC.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what current or planned initiatives exist aimed at developing the European information technology industry.
§ Mr. LeighIn accordance with the EC Industry Council resolution on electronics, information and communications technologies of 18 November 1991, the European Commission is carrying out a number of studies in this field; and is setting up a centralised point of information to monitor marketing, market access and distribution practices. In addition the Community's ESPRIT and Telematics R and D programmes aim to strengthen the European science and technology base in IT.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the relationship and possible competition between the TickIT scheme and BSi QA(a) domestically and (b) in the international community.
§ Mr. LeighTickIT is a scheme which provides for accredited independent certification of quality management systems—QMS—in the software development process in the United Kingdom. Its use internationally is also welcome and there is growing interest from outside the UK.
BSi QA is a commercial business, offering certification services, including services within the TickIT scheme. It is understood that BSi QA offer TickIT accredited 504W certification both domestically and internationally. BSI QA has also offered non-accredited certification in the information technology field; it has furthermore received accreditation by the relevant authority in the Netherlands for provision of certification services in IT.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans his Department has to further information technology certification, to underpin the interoperability of telecommunications, computer and software technology.
§ Mr. LeighMy Department's approach is that credible IT conformance testing can greatly assist progress towards interoperability. It may be expected that as conformance testing becomes increasingly adopted by the market, so should certification become increasingly influential in promoting user confidence in interoperable products. Therefore my Department is already providing support in establishing a testing infrastructure including the establishment of an United Kingdom open systems interconnection test service.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of the arrangements his Department is making to permit other countries to use the Tick IT mark.
§ Mr. LeighTickIT-accredited certification bodies can assess and certificate company quality management systems in any country in the world. Following a successful assessment, the certification body issues a certificate and permits use of the TickIT mark on that certificated company's stationery and literature. My powers do not extend to accreditation of bodies which are not legal entities in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has been approached by several countries wishing to participate in the TickIT scheme. This they are able to do either by use of the existing TickIT accredited certification bodies or by agreeing to a suitable reciprocal arrangement between their national accreditation body and the United Kingdom National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies.
§ Miss Emma NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of the measures his Department has taken to encourage TickIT-accredited bodies to join the Information Technology Quality Systems arrangement.
§ Mr. LeighBSi QA is a TickIT accredited certification body and a founder member of ITQS. My Department has explained fully the benefits of joining the ITQS agreement group to the other TickIT certification bodies.