§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the percentage of his Department's systems which might be affected by millennium compliance failure by other Departments, public or private companies and international Government and non-governmental systems. [66752]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 21 January 1999]: We are discussing this issue with our major suppliers, and are seeking assurances of continuity of supply from them and from their suppliers in turn.
Defence systems have relatively little dependence on systems in other Departments. We are liaising closely with our allies to identify the many international inter-dependencies and are working with them to ensure that allied and joint operations will not be adversely affected by the millennium date-change. These dependencies range from individual components to linkage between systems. Information on the number of such dependencies is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.