§ Mr. CotterTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what meetings she has had with financial institutions on the issue of reprogramming computers to make them euro compliant at the same time as having to make them year 2000 compliant; [47042]
(2) what research her Department has evaluated on the problems of making computer systems euro compliant at the same time as making them year 2000 compliant; [47050]
(3) what assessment she has made of the technical implications of the introduction of the euro, with particular regard to computer systems; [47005]
(4) what research her Department has undertaken to assess the cost to the United Kingdom economy of reprogramming computers to make them euro compliant. [47045]
§ Mrs. LiddellI have been asked to reply.
The UK will not be joining the single currency on 1 January 1999. Therefore, while the launch of the euro and the Millennium both have IT consequences, they have very different implications with regard to resources and timing. For the majority of firms in the UK, the IT implications of the launch of the euro will be secondary to strategic considerations.