§ Mr. JackTo ask the President of the Council what is her current estimate of the total cost to public sector bodies of preparing to avoid millennium bug problems. [67387]
§ Mrs. BeckettI do not believe that it is possible or worthwhile to attempt to establish the true cost of the Year 2000 preparations for the public sector as a whole given that each organisation assesses its costs in different ways. Typically departments' plans include the additional costs posed by the bug such as contractors, and new systems. They do not tend to include in house resources or routine system up-grades. I do publish the cost estimates for central Government and key elements of the public sector as part of the quarterly reports to Parliament. The total cost for central Government is estimated at £400 million, and will be found from within existing budgets. This figure has remained fairly stable over the last year.
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§ Mr. JackTo ask the President of the Council if she will require public bodies to publish details of the contingency plans which they are developing to deal with the consequences of the millennium bug. [67386]
§ Mrs. BeckettI have asked all Departments and agencies to have initial contingency plans in place by the end of this month. I will be consulting colleagues about how much of the detail of the plans could sensibly be put into the public domain.