§ Mr. David AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what advice has been given by IBM to the Civil Aviation Authority on the work required to ensure that core air traffic management systems will be millennium compliant; and if he will make a statement. [27872]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonIn conjunction with IBM, National Air Traffic Services Ltd. (NATS) has carried out extensive test and assessment programme on its IBM machines and has established that, within the context of their use in NATS, these machines represent a minimal risk with respect to the millennium.
Remedial work on CAA and NATS systems to deal with the millennium bug problem should be completed by July 1998. The systems will then be subjected to validation tests. The testing of all operational systems, and non-operational systems with significant impact, is scheduled for completion by the end of 1998.