National Changeover Plan

HC Deb 13 December 1999 vol 341 c78W

Mr. Maude

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the cost of the Government's National Changeover plan to date. [101820]

Miss Melanie Johnson

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear in his statement to the House on 23 February 1999,Official Report, columns 179–96, and repeated on 8 December 1999, Official Report, columns 824–26, we may spend some tens of millions of pounds. Any such expenditure would be required mainly in the DSS, Inland Revenue and Customs where the scale and complexity of their computer systems makes advance preparations critical so that we can maintain the flexibility for Britain to make any changeover as cost-effectively as possible.