§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to ensure that the telephone network in Lancashire is millennium compliant, with particular reference to emergency calls. [66025]
§ Mr. Battle[holding answer 18 January 1999]: In Lancashire, as elsewhere in the UK, 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, who are co-operating with Oftel and the Home Office, are taking the issue seriously, and have outlined their plans to meet this challenge. The main network operators already have sophisticated systems in place to safeguard the provision of emergency services over their networks and their current work on the Millennium Bug is building on the resilience already built in to these companies' systems. 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 a peer review of the telecom operators is already being undertaken, permitting the industry's most technically able experts to collaborate in checking peer companies' systems. 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.