§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what is her estimate of the cost of making all systems, machines and computers in the public sector millennium compliant; [25927]
(2) what is the estimated total cost to the public sector of millennium compliance. [29528]
§ Mrs. Beckett[holding answers 13 and 28 January 1998]: The Government have estimated the cost of millennium compliance for Government Departments and their Agencies to be £370 million. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster placed copies of all central Government plans for millennium compliance in the Libraries of the House on 27 November 1997.
The information required to make a reliable estimate of the costs of millennium compliance for the wider public sector could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.