HC Deb 18 November 1998 vol 319 cc650-3W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the problems which have arisen in(a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies for which his Department is responsible from millennium compliance; if he will make a statement on progress to date in tackling such problems; and what are the priority areas for remedial work. [60119]

Mrs. Roche

[holding answer 17 November 1998]: Tackling the millennium bug is a major activity, presenting the normal problems of managing multiple concurrent tasks with the added dimension of limited time and dependence on suppliers and other external bodies. The programmes of work within the Department, its agencies and sponsored public bodies have been designed to take account of these factors as far as possible and no significant additional problems have been encountered. Priority areas for remedial work are those systems necessary to support critical activities within the organisations concerned.

Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the conclusions of Taskforce 2000 published on 11 November in respect of his Department's most recent quarterly return on plans and progress towards Year 2000 readiness. [60226]

Mrs. Roche

The DTI welcomes informed comment on its work in tackling the Year 2000 problem. The assessment referred to raised a number of points in respect of this departmentCost increase: It became clear during this year that more work would be required than expected when the original cost estimate was made in 1996. The likely increase was mentioned in our June return. Increased number of embedded systems: Audit work in this area will not be complete until the end of December. We have found more embedded items in some systems than originally thought. Progress on critical IT systems: As mentioned above, it has become clear that more work than originally anticipated will be needed, especially in relation to our main IT infrastructure. Nevertheless we remain on target to meet our declared aim of ensuring that critical IT systems are compliant by April 1999.

The report also comments on a lack of information in returns from some of the Department's Next Steps Agencies and sponsored organisations. The organisations concerned are making energetic progress on their programmes. Future returns will seek to provide a further understanding of their work.

The results of the next quarterly review will be announced shortly to the House and copies of DTI's latest quarterly return will be placed in the Library of the House and published on the internet.

Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects the internal audit of his Department's progress and plans for tackling the millennium bug to be completed; and if he will place a copy of it in the Library. [60206]

Mrs. Roche

Reports from this work are expected to be completed by the end of next month. It is not normal practice to publish these internal management reports but the DTI will, of course, continue to provide quarterly reports on its progress, including the results of this audit work when they are available. Those progress reports will continue to be placed in the Library and published on the internet.

Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons his Department's September quarterly returns on progress in dealing with the impact of the millennium bug on business-critical systems shows a lower percentage coverage than in the June quarterly return. [60207]

Mrs. Roche

Both the June and September returns showed that DTI had completed the inventory work for business critical systems. Our response to a separate question which asked about inventory and audit work, a wider category of activity, reported that 5 per cent. would not be completed until the fourth quarter of 1998.

At the time of compiling the June return we predicted that audit work would be complete by the end of June. However, by the time the September report was compiled it was clear that additional audit work would be needed, particularly in relation to our main IT infrastructure.

Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the contingency plans drawn up by(a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies in relation to problems arising from millennium compliance including the embedded chip problem after 31 December 1999. [60121]

Mrs. Roche

[holding answer 17 November 1998]: The DTI has high level plans for dealing with emergencies and more detailed planning is under way. Initial year 2000 contingency plans will be in place by the end of January 1999, in accordance with central guidance. These will be reviewed and refined if necessary as we approach 31 December 1999. The department has a robust programme to address millennium compliance problems connected with building operations and is also drawing up plans to ensure that its key activities can be maintained even if some embedded systems do fail.

Similarly, the Department's Next Steps Agencies, and the significant public sector bodies sponsored by the Department, already have plans which address some of the potential problems. These will be reviewed and refined as necessary during 1999.

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment he has made of the risks posed by gasometers, gas storage bullets and other gas storage methods at unmanned facilities in relation to the millennium bug; [60262]

(2) what assessment he has made of the preparedness of the gas industry in relation to the millennium bug; [60261]

(3) what steps he has taken to ensure that gas supplies will not be interrupted by the millennium bug; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of interruption. [60280]

Mrs. Roche

The Department maintains regular contact with the Health and Safety Executive on potential safety hazards associated with the gas supply, and is working closely with OFGAS and Action 2000 to monitor the steps being taken by the gas industry to identify and rectify potential year 2000 problems. The industry has projects in place covering manned and unmanned facilities. Information about the steps being taken is available on the Transco Internet site.

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the likelihood of interruptions to electricity supplies as a result of the millennium bug. [60279]

Mrs. Roche

The electricity industry is making extensive preparations to ensure that it will be business as usual over the period of the century date change. Each company is carrying out its own thorough assessment of its systems—in particular its critical systems—to identify and remedy any problems which might affect the security of supply before the end of 1999.

The Government, through Action 2000, have established a National Infrastructure Forum which brings together the main providers and users of the key infrastructural services. As a key part of the Forum's work, Action 2000 are leading an Independent Assessment Project to assess the state of preparedness of key services, including the electricity industry.

The electricity Regulator, OFFER, will be carrying out an independent audit of the preparations in each company. OFFER will also be co-operating with the Electricity Association in its end-to-end risk assessment for the industry. The first results of these assessments should be available in January.

My hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry has written to the Chief Executives of the main electricity companies to make it clear that the Government expect their full co-operation in this process. He has raised the issue with the companies over the last several months and will continue to promote progress between now and the millennium.

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to ensure that telecommunications services will not be interrupted by the millennium bug; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of interruption. [60282]

Mrs. Roche

Oftel has responsibility for safeguarding the integrity of the core telecommunications network and has established a year 2000 project to monitor and assess the telecommunications industry's preparations. Oftel has taken steps to ensure that telecoms services are not disrupted over the millennium. All the main network operators are cooperating with Oftel, are taking the issue seriously, and have outlined their plans to meet this challenge. Oftel is keeping the preparations of the network operators under review.

Action 2000 is working closely with Oftel to ensure rigorous assessment programmes are in place, and has requested that Oftel add independent assessment of the key dial tone providers to a peer review of the telecom operators already being undertaken. It is difficult to make a precise assessment of the likelihood of interruption. Oftel expects that the principal sectors of the industry will be Year 2000 compliant during the first half of 1999.