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12.56 am
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Doug Henderson): I congratulate the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Atkinson) on securing this debate on such a crucial issue. I am sure that he is as pleased as the rest of us that he was able to address the House at this time instead of somewhat later, as was threatened earlier in our proceedings. I recognise the hon. Gentleman's important work on raising awareness of the issue, which he has undertaken as Deputy Chairman of the Select Committee on Science and Technology, and as rapporteur on the year 2000 computer date change problem--or, as it is otherwise known, the millennium bug. I thank him for his remarks about the Government's work on the problem.
The hon. Gentleman covered a lot of ground. I propose to try to cover the points he raised in connection with our response as a nation, and the responses of our allies, our friends and NATO. I shall also try to refer to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, North-East (Mr. White) in relation to Russia. If I have the time, I shall also refer to the point made about support for civil authorities. The question of the minutiae of various manoeuvres in the WEU would be better raised in that forum rather than here, but if the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East wishes to write to me on specific points, I would be happy to try to deal with them.
The first question raised was about the preparedness of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces. I wish to amplify the remarks made by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House in her statement last Tuesday on progress by the Government and key parts of the national infrastructure in tacking the millennium bug. She said that the Ministry of Defence was making good progress in dealing with the bug, but that it was a large and complex programme and there was no room for slippage. I agree with that point.
The Ministry of Defence year 2000 programme is, indeed, the largest and most complex in central Government, and accounts for about half of the total central Government expenditure of some £400 million. The programme receives the highest priority in the Ministry of Defence, with the exception only of meeting key operational commitments.
So far, many more than 30,000 systems employing computer-based technology have been assessed within the Ministry of Defence and its associated agencies. Work on many of them is already complete. For example, the Ministry of Defence centre and the armed forces have so far completed work on around 65 per cent. of all systems. It is expected that work on 95 per cent. of those systems determined to be critical to defence will be completed by
the autumn, with the remainder finished before the end of the year. I can say that for the three services, we are confident that by August this year, all Royal Navy ships and submarines will be year 2000 compliant, that all Army front-line systems will be compliant by September and that all Royal Air Force aircraft will be mission capable through the millennium by the end of May.
Year 2000 rectification work is time consuming and has to be carried out to the highest standards. Within the Ministry of Defence, our progress is reviewed monthly by Ministers, including myself, and senior staff, and is a standing item on the defence council agenda. We are certainly not complacent about progress and we have put in place an independent audit programme to provide additional assurance that the work is carried out correctly.
Even so, there may be unforeseen failures, as the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East pointed out. For that reason, we are developing contingency plans to cope with the unexpected, which might arise. In any year 2000 programme, individual systems must be made compliant, but the interconnections between systems must also be checked. During this year, our overall readiness will be validated in a number of exercises. These will show that the checks and rectification work have been successfully carried out, and that our contingency plans and fallbacks really do work. For example, we are well aware of our dependency on the communications infrastructure of NATO and other nations. I will describe our co-operation with those nations later. In our own programme, we are demonstrating our ability to maintain the command and control of our forces deployed overseas using our wholly owned, year 2000 compliant communications systems. Almost all the work will be complete by late summer this year.
I turn now to the work that is taking place with allied nations. The Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of Defense have been proactive in raising this issue in NATO and with our NATO allies. An international group on defence has been formed to address the impact that the millennium bug could have on allied and coalition operations. Currently, participants include the United States, the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France and Germany. NATO is also represented, providing liaison between the group, the work within NATO and other nations. The next meeting to review progress will be held in July.
The role of the group is to exchange information on the progress each country is making in dealing with the problem. The group deals with common issues, such as ensuring that electronic data exchanges between defence forces will not be affected, and co-ordinating operational planning and priorities over the millennium period. It also seeks to raise awareness in the defence forces of other nations with which we co-operate.
NATO has established a team, under the auspices of the NATO command and control and communications board, to deal with the millennium problem in NATO-owned systems and in those that cross NATO-national boundaries. The UK works closely with the NATO team to ensure that NATO-UK issues are promptly addressed. To address the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, North-East and the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East, a working group met in January, under the auspices of the
NATO-Russia permanent joint council, to exchange year 2000 programme information; that meeting was well attended by NATO nations.
We have made it clear that we are prepared to share our expertise--we think that we have a lot--and experience, and to contribute our resources to ensure safety and security in military and linked operations throughout the world, including the former Soviet Union--especially Russia. We want to give help where we can and in establishing links with those countries, we can be assured that systems in those countries are safe. The initiative is important and I hope that we shall make progress, although I realise that time is short.
In addition to playing a leading role in NATO and the wider international year 2000 defence group, the UK has also been to the fore in raising awareness and exchanging information with other nations bilaterally--for example, we introduced initiatives to Russia on that basis. Last year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State signed a letter of intent with France covering exchanges of information on a range of topics, including the year 2000.
The question of nuclear safety has been raised. I want to reassure the hon. Gentleman and the House that the Trident system has been checked very carefully as part of our overall programme. There are no computer failures, whether induced by the year 2000 problem or by any other cause, that could result in the accidental launch of a Trident missile. There has been some speculation in the
press about the operation of the Trident system, especially about the compliance of some American nuclear systems. We enjoy a close relationship with the US Department of Defense on year 2000 issues; we were notified by that Department in December 1998 that the mission-critical subsystems of the Trident II, or D5, strategic weapons systems as operated by the Royal Navy had been certified as Y2K compliant.
The hon. Gentleman raised the question of support for civilian authorities, and others have raised that matter with my noble Friend Lord Gilbert, the Minister for Defence Procurement--who has specific responsibility for such matters--and with me. I can assure the House that our armed forces will, as usual, be ready to provide assistance to civil authorities, within the constraints of resources and other operational commitments.
As I have said, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence regards tackling the millennium bug as one of his highest priorities, second only to operations. The Ministry of Defence has the largest remedial programme in Government and I know that we are on track to complete it. We are at the forefront of work with our NATO allies and partners to ensure that the international dimension is properly dealt with. We are satisfied about the security of our nuclear deterrent, and we have put in place sensible plans to deal with international risk and any domestic civil emergency in respect of the millennium change.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at seven minutes past One o'clock.
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