§ Mr. BakerTo ask the President of the Council if she will make a statement on the(a) cost to Her Majesty's Government and (b) impact on the UK of the millennium bug. [146698]
§ Mrs. BeckettI refer the hon. Gentleman to the oral statement on the millennium bug, which I made on 20 January 2000,Official Report, columns 975–83, and the update, which I provided on 28 February 2000, Official Report, columns 135–36W, and 20 April 2000, Official Report, column 596W. No significant problems have been reported since then.
The estimated cost of the millennium bug to central Government was £380 million. The Government's preparations were an outstanding success, with the UK almost untouched by the bug. However, things did not go right by accident. The bug was shown to have the capacity to wreak havoc among essential services. The Government's objective was to ensure that the bug did not cause material disruption to these services. That objective was achieved.
The work has wide-reaching benefits which were drawn out in a command paper, "Modernising Government in Action: Realising the benefits of Y2K", which I placed in the Libraries of the House on 18 April 2000, as stated on 18 April 2000, Official Report, column 425W.