HC Deb 07 July 1998 vol 315 cc491-2W
Mr. David Atkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what contingency plans his Department is making in the event of the failure of computer systems to recognise the year 2000; when he expects them to be in place, and tested; and if he will make a statement. [48847]

Dr. Howells

The Department fully recognises the importance of doing all it can to minimise the effect of the Year 2000 problem. Remedial action to adapt and test all our computer systems is underway. Within my department, we have identified the systems on which we depend for the conduct of normal business. As we test the effectiveness of remedial action (during the course of this year), we will assess the impact of system failure and develop appropriate contingency arrangements for each one. We are also in the process of identifying key technical personnel who will need to be available over the Millennium period.

GCSE achievements of 15 year old pupils entered for GCSE science subjects, in Norfolk schools from 1992 to 1997 (maintained schools only)
Grades achieved by 15 year old pupils entered
A1 A B C D E F G U X Total
1991–921
Single Award Science — 42 80 409 354 384 313 158 78 75 1,893
Double Award Science — 510 570 1,484 1,027 746 437 162 48 44 5,026
Other Science — 2 4 16 15 28 17 11 4 9 106
1992–931
Single Award Science — 23 56 285 297 301 251 143 93 71 1,520
Double Award Science — 433 534 1,667 1,074 769 454 240 92 48 5,309
Other Science — 2 5 20 17 29 22 15 5 6 121
1993–941
Single Award Science 0 10 82 88 268 328 261 126 68 48 1,279
Double Award Science 144 331 1,313 1,089 1,295 887 430 120 47 97 5,752
Other Science 0 2 5 8 8 11 6 1 2 5 48
1994–95
Biological Science 0 3 12 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 23
Chemistry 1 2 6 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 24
Physics 3 6 11 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 24
Single Award Science 2 8 85 135 332 376 244 103 38 69 1,392
Double Award Science 206 410 1,214 1,457 1,252 893 386 88 35 105 6,044
Other Science 0 3 3 7 13 22 7 1 0 2 58

The Employment Service, who provide vital services to the public, are developing and improving existing contingency plans to ensure they address Year 2000 issues. These will cover all services as appropriate.

We are also working closely with other organisations in the education, training, and employment sectors to encourage them to develop contingency measures where appropriate, especially where services to the citizen could be affected.