HC Deb 26 November 1996 vol 286 cc153-4W
Mr. Hoon

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many separate computer programmes his Department operates. [5351]

Mr. Bowis

There is no universal definition of what constitutes a computer programme. A formula or a simple line of executable code could be said to be a programme. My Department is at present responsible for 55 major software systems.

Mr. Hoon

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems. [5342]

Mr. Bowis

My Department uses a number of proprietary software packages and for these information on the number of programmes 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 still to be in use in the year 2000 as part of our strategy for dealing with the year 2000 date change issue, but compilation of the inventory is not yet complete.