§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if all the computer systems used by the emergency services in England will be millennium compliant by 31 December 1998. [39894]
§ Mr. StrawNo. It is the responsibility of each police force and fire authority to ensure that their local information technology (IT) and communications systems are millennium compliant. In prioritising the remedial actions necessary to resolve millennium problems, forces and brigades will take into account the date by which particular systems need to be compliant. Priority will be given to those key systems which will need to be compliant by the start of 1999. For other systems, the end of 1999 will be the target date for compliance.
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§ Mr. George HowarthThe information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Some information on cautioning rates in 1996 for all drug offences taken together by police force area has recently been published (see table A2.4 in Statistics of Drug Seizures and Offenders dealt with, United Kingdom, 1996—Area Tables), copies of which are in the Library.