§ Mr. David AtkinsonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement of progress on the millennium readiness of the Lord Chancellor's Department computer systems, and those for which it is responsible in the provision of public services; if contingency plans are in place; and what slippage has occurred since the July quarterly report to the House. [93563]
573W
§ Mr. LockYear 2000 compliance work on all Business Critical Systems in the Department, its Agencies and other bodies which report to the Lord Chancellor is complete. No slippage on these systems has occurred since the July quarterly report. More details on progress, which has been made in tackling the Millennium Bug, are set out in our quarterly monitoring returns, available in the Libraries of the House and on the internet. The results of the October monthly progress review of Departments and Agencies are due to be published shortly by the President of the Council.
The Departmental Business Continuity Plan and Millennium Operating Regime is complete and testing is under-way, which will be complete before the end of October.
Our provision of key public services within the Criminal Justice System has been the subject of independent assessment and reported to the National Infrastructure Forum. For the July Forum under the Action 2000 colour coding system, the Magistrates' Courts were assessed as 53 per cent. Blue, 47 per cent. Amber, and the Crown Court 77 per cent. Blue, 23 per cent. Amber. The results of the latest independent assessment of these areas of the Department's responsibility within the Criminal Justice sector will be announced at the next National Infrastructure Forum on 21 October.