§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure his Department's computer systems are millennium compliant; how many officials of his Department are tasked on the issue and how many of them are technically qualified; and how many consultancy staff are supplementing in-house resources. [89824]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Ministry of Defence has a comprehensive Year 2000 programme, which has been in place since 1996. The focus of the programme is on the maintenance of Defence capability across the millennium period. Around 75 per cent. of MOD critical systems are now compliant, with the remainder due to be made compliant and tested by the end of the year.
There are currently approximately 1,170 full and part-time officials working on Y2K within MOD, with 215 consultants supplementing the in-house staff. All have the skills necessary for the tasks allocated to them.
A programme of audits, using both internal and external specialist assessors, has been established to assure the quality of the work undertaken. A series of exercises is underway to demonstrate the adequacy of technical compliance measures and contingency.