HC Deb 04 November 1997 vol 300 cc162-4W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will publish the action plan, due by 1 October 1997, for resolving the computer millennium problem in his Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which he is responsible; if such was fully completed on time; and if he will make a statement; [13577]

(2) what is his latest estimate of the total cost of resolving the computer millennium problem in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies for which he is responsible; if he will state in each case (i) expenditure incurred to date, (ii) expenditure planned for 1997–98, (iii) expenditure planned for 1998–99 and (iv) expenditure planned for 1999–00; and if he will make a statement; [13578]

(3) if he will make a statement on what funding provision has been made to accommodate the expenditure needed to resolve the computer millennium problem; and if he expects to have sufficient funding to pay for the work necessary to achieve complete millennium compliance by 1 January 2000; [13579]

(4) when his Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which he is responsible completed the millennium computer compliance audits of systems; and if he will make a statement; [13580]

(5) which (a) Minister and (b) civil servant has overall responsibility for ensuring millennium computer compliance in his Department and its associated public bodies.[13581]

Dr. Howells

My Department has assessed carefully and systematically the extent to which its processes and outputs would be vulnerable to disruption from the computer millennium problem. We have defined the scope of the problem and realistically assessed the risks; planned for the effective testing of solutions; initiated the preparation of contingency plans and are taking steps to strengthen contracts with suppliers. Compliance audits of the Department's IS/IT systems were completed in August 1997: those for the Employment Service were completed in September 1997. Steps have been taken to ensure that all of the agencies and non-departmental public bodies that are answerable to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment are adopting a comparably rigorous approach.

The estimated cost of securing full millennium compliance of DfEE's IS/IT is £4.55 million, of which £1.08 million will be spent in 1997–98 and the remainder in 1998–99. The current comparable estimate for the Employment Service is £23.15 million—£0.95 million in 1997–98, £20.7 million in 1998–99 and £1.5 million in 1999–2000. The cost of securing millennium compliance of embedded chips in the Department's building control and associated systems is estimated at £0.25 million, which will be spent in 1998–99. The necessary funding is being found from existing financial provision.

I am the Minister with overall responsibility for the Department's year 2000 compliance programme. The civil servant with overall responsibility in DfEE is Mr. Kenneth Jordan, the head of procurement and contracting who is also responsible for assessing the extent of the vulnerability to year 2000 problems in the key parts of the Department's supply chain. The civil servant with overall responsibility in the Employment Service is Mr. Ray Phillips, the director of policy and process design.