HC Deb 26 November 1996 vol 286 cc142-3W
Mr. Hoon

to ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many separate computer programmes his Department operates. [5521]

Sir Paul Beresford

There is no universal definition of what constitutes a computer program. A formula or a simple line of executable code could be said to be a programme. However, my Department is at present responsible for 130 major software systems.

Mr. Hoon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems. [5520]

Sir Paul Beresford

My Department uses a number of propriety software packages and for these, information on the number of programs or lines of source code is known only to the supplier.

My Department is carrying out an inventory of that bespoke software which is likely to still be in use in year 2000 as a part of its strategy for dealing with the year 2000 date change issue, but compilation of the inventory is not yet complete.