§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what contingency plans he has made in the event of millennium compliance failures in any transportation system in the United Kingdom. [23634]
§ Angela EagleMillennium compliance is the responsibility of the relevant transport industry.
My Department has worked closely with the railway industry to ensure that arrangements are in place for millennium compliance. The Rail Millennium Programme Office has been set up to manage an industry-wide programme of projects to ensure compliance. Part of this programme is to assess the risks of non compliance and the need for any specific contingency plans.
My officials are working with London Transport to ensure, as far as possible, that millennium compliance failures do not occur and to ensure that sensible contingency measures are put in place in good time.
As regards aviation, my Department has notified all major UK airlines, airports and associated industry organisations of the need to consider whether their systems will be affected by the problem and advised them to take any remedial action necessary. We have also been in close and regular contact with the Civil Aviation Authority (including National Air Traffic Services) who have been requested to consider the problem and take any necessary action with other relevant sectors of the aviation industry. The situation has been and will continue to be monitored on a regular basis.
356WThe Highways Agency is actively considering the issue, including the need for contingency plans, in relation to the trunk road network and is liaising with local highway authorities.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the total cost of millennium compliance to his Department broken down between transport, environment and the regions. [23633]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions estimates the total cost of millennium compliance to his Department to be £17.9 million (excluding Government Offices for the Regions).
Since the merger of the former Transport and Environment Departments it is no longer possible to differentiate between the central costs for transport and environment. Of the £17.95 million, £2.2 million is estimated for DETR (Central).
Of the remaining £15.75 million, £15.55 million is estimated for the former Transport Executive Agencies and £200 thousand for the former Environment Executive Agencies.
The results of a scoping exercise for the Government Offices for the Regions should be available in April 1998. Costs are not expected to exceed existing PES provision.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what contingency arrangements have been made for the Coastguard Agency in the event of any millennium compliance failure; [23635]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost of millennium compliance for the Coastguard Agency. [23636]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonI have asked the Chief Executive of the Coastguard Agency, Mr. C. J Harris, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from C. J. Harris to Cheryl Gillian, dated 16 January 1998:
357WThe Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the issue of millennium compliance.A programme of replacing all existing PCs and Servers that are not compliant is currently under way and will be completed by the end of the current financial year. Statements of compliance have been obtained from all of the Agency's hardware suppliers and sample machines tested.Statements of compliance have also been received from all providers of bespoke software. All are or will be compliant with the exception of the Operations Rooms Command and Control System (ADAS) and a Marine Pollution Control Unit package (BOSCA). We are awaiting a statement of compliance regarding the latter, but no problems are anticipated. The Coastguard Agency is currently reviewing the replacement of the ADAS system, and a decision on the way forward is expected shortly. Compliance should be achieved during 1999.I acknowledge that certain domestic devices, such as lifts, escalators etc., have imbedded chips which may also have a year 2000 compliance problem. This area is being investigated by the Agency's Estate Services Branch who are awaiting statements of compliance. It is anticipated that all devices will be compliant by 31 March.To date, the estimated cost of the compliance exercise for the above programmes is £170k.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many officials, and at what grade, are working on millennium compliance issues. [23637]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe central DETR co-ordination programme has a programme manager at G7 level and two co-ordinators at SEO level with additional support equivalent to one HEO. Each Business Unit within DETR (central) is responsible for ensuring compliance of their own business critical systems. It is estimated that a total of 50 officials between EO and G5 are working on millennium compliance issues on a part time basis. (Please see following table for breakdown by grade.)
Executive Agencies The Executive Agencies have a varying number of officials dealing with millennium compliance issues depending on the size of the problem within each agency. Approximate totals are given in the following table.
Government Office for the Regions The Government Office Central Unit has established a central committee to address millennium issues and there are a variety of officials at different grades working on the issues within each government office. Again, approximate totals are given in the following table.
Officials working on Millennium Compliance Issues G5 G6 G7 SEO HEO EO AO DETR(C) 1 — 3 8 26 12 — Executive Agencies 5 1 6 10 11 8 5 Government Offices — — 1 1 14 — — All figures exclude contractors.