§ Mr. FlightTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many full-time equivalent positions within her Department are currently occupied by people working on(a) millennium and (b) single currency compliance requirements. [41928]
§ Mrs. BeckettThe numbers of people within my Department working on the following are
(a) Millennium—About 7.6 full-time equivalent staff are dealing with Millennium issues relating to information systems and to estates and facilities management in the Department. A further 2.5 staff are involved in assisting UK businesses to deal with the problem of the Millennium date change in co-ordination with Action 2000 which DTI set up earlier this year. The numbers may vary according to the needs of the programmes.(b) Single currency—Some 1.5 full-time equivalent staff are directly involved in helping UK firms prepare for Economic and Monetary Union. These officials are working closely with Treasury's Euro Preparations Unit, which has the primary role in raising awareness of UK firms to the implications of EMU and helping them to prepare. A number of DTI staff have been seconded to the Treasury to work in that unit.