Millennium Compliance (Hansard, 23 July 1999)

§ Mrs. Beckett

Good progress continues to be made with work on the Government's business critical systems and in most Departments the bulk of the work is already complete.

However, I remain concerned that a number of programmes continue to show slippage in their planned completion dates. Four departments are indicating for the first time that they will not now complete their programmes until September or later. They are the Intervention Board, the Serious Fraud Office, the Inland Revenue and the Northern Ireland Prison Service. In all these cases I have written to Cabinet colleagues asking them personally to monitor progress very carefully, and to ensure that any necessary remedial action is taken.

The Government will continue to manage the process closely. This includes ensuring that full Business Continuity Plans are in place, and tested, by October—indicating how seriously the Government are taking this problem, and how hard we are working to resolve it. However we should remember that slippage at this stage is an inevitable part of the process. Across the private and public sectors, those working on this problem find that the more they do, the more they find there is to do.

Although there has been good progress in the wider public sector since I last reported, organisations in many sectors have still to complete their programmes. However, all infrastructure providers reported an improved position at the National Infrastructure Forum on 13 July. This included the NHS, and police and fire services, which no longer have any organisations assessed as having "red" status (severe risk of material disruption which there may not be enough time to rectify)—and all of whom included some organisations with "blue" status (the assessment has not identified any risk of material disruption). In local government, the assessment process was started later, and this sector still shows a small percentage of red authorities—2 per cent. in England and 12 per cent. in Scotland. Government Offices in England and the Scottish Executive will continue to work with these authorities, and with the others, to meet the target of blue status by the next Forum meeting in October. The great majority of infrastructure providers are currently rated "amber", that is, there is still some risk of material disruption but plans are in place to deal with this, and the target is again "blue" by October.

668W

In order that hon. Members can see at a glance the position in central Government and the wider public sector, I am publishing a set of tables showing progress in Government Departments up to the end of June, and a table of the Action 2000 colour codes for the wider public sector, as announced to the National Infrastructure Forum on 13 July. In addition, a full set of the returns completed by Government Departments, agencies and key bodies in the wider public sector will be placed in the Libraries of the House and published on the internet. This is in line with the Government's commitment to openness that has characterised our handling of the millennium bug issue since day one.

I said last month that I would report to the House on a monthly basis from now on. As the next returns from Government Departments and agencies will be received during the parliamentary recess, we propose to write to all Members in late August.