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Mrs. Beckett: I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his promotion.
Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire): It has not shut him up.
Mrs. Beckett: No, it has not. I wondered whether it might mean that we would have the pleasure of the hon. Gentleman's company less frequently, or at less length--but apparently not.
With regard to the campaign and the issue of the single currency, the Government are positive that the stance that we have taken is right in Britain's national interest; we shall therefore continue to take it.
Mr. Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire):
Will the Leader of the House arrange next week for the Home Secretary to come to the House and make a statement on the progress of the Criminal Cases Review Commission?
Mrs. Beckett:
The hon. Gentleman will know that we inherited long delays in many part of the criminal justice system. That is a source of concern to the Government, as it rightly is to the public, and we are trying to take steps to diminish those delays. That applies, too, to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Ministers are aware of and concerned about the delays, and we are considering what can be done to ease the position.
Mr. Christopher Gill (Ludlow):
Further to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow), may I also urge the Leader of the House to try to persuade the Prime Minister to come to the House to explain one or two things about the single currency? Yesterday he told us yet again that we have record employment and alluded to record low inflation and very low interest rates. Will he explain how that legacy of 18 years of Conservative government can be improved on by joining the single currency?
Mrs. Beckett:
The hon. Gentleman's memory is a trifle faulty. The legacy of 18 years of Conservative government was interest rates and inflation in double figures and, usually, unemployment well into double figures. On the single currency, I have nothing to add to what my right hon. Friend said yesterday or to what I have said today.
Millennium Compliance
1.6 pm
The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Margaret Beckett): I am announcing today the results of the sixth quarterly review of progress in tackling the millennium bug for Departments, agencies and key parts of the wider public sector. I have arranged for the completed questionnaires on which the statement is based to be placed in the Libraries of the House and published on the internet.
To allow people to see at a glance how well individual Departments and agencies are doing, I shall also be publishing tables showing their performance against a number of key criteria. There are still areas of concern, which I will highlight, but the most important message of the review is that, overall, the Government are on course to be millennium compliant well before the end of the year.
When I made the previous statement, I said that most Departments expected to have finished work on their business-critical systems by July. That remains the case, although there has been slippage in some Departments. I remind the House that completion is defined as all systems being corrected, tested and back in service. By that definition, more than 80 per cent. of government's business-critical systems are now completed. Of the programmes that are running into the second half of the year, most have already completed the bulk of their work.
That is welcome, but my principal focus in this statement, naturally, is on those Departments and agencies that plan to complete their programmes in the last quarter of the year. I am concerned that these are tight deadlines that allow little room to deal with unexpected problems.
All Departments and agencies that have planned completion dates in October or later need to pay particular attention to such planning. The target is that all Departments and agencies should have full business continuity plans in place and tested by the end of October. I am pleased to report that, already, three quarters of Departments have considered how to ease pressure over the new year period. Over the coming months, we shall be working closely with Departments to ensure that they all have appropriate management plans in place to deal with particular pressures over the new year period. These millennium operating regimes will be reported on as part of the quarterly monitoring process within government and the wider public sector and will be included in the infrastructure programme of Action 2000.
I will be writing to ministerial colleagues about the completion dates for business-critical systems of the Inland Revenue, the National Insurance Contributions Office and the Planning Inspectorate and about the slippage in the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency programme. I have asked colleagues to keep tight management control of work on the remaining systems and to ensure particular focus on business continuity planning in the time that remains.
I have also written to all ministerial colleagues to suggest that they consider whether they can ensure that key staff working on year 2000 issues in Departments and agencies should not be moved between now and the end of the critical period, in line with good practice in the private sector.
I am pleased to be able to report that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has made up the slippage reported last quarter, although I still have concerns because it operates in nearly every country across the world, and that poses a particular challenge in ensuring continuity of service.
The progress of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces has been sustained, and I am particularly encouraged that some elements are ahead of schedule despite the impact of events in Kosovo. In other areas there is little room for slippage, and they will need to be kept under close review. However, the Ministry is confident that Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force front-line units will be compliant by late summer. Overall cost estimates remain relatively stable, with only a slight increase since the last review--from £420 million to£430 million. Nearly half the returns show no change in total estimates.
Key parts of the wider public sector are now subject to independent assessment as part of the infrastructure project. I shall continue to report on them here, and they will report regularly to the national infrastructure forum.
The results of the most recent health service quarterly review in England were announced on 21 May 1999, covering the period up to 31 March. The number of organisations reporting good or satisfactory progress was consistent with earlier reports, at 90 per cent. The estimated cost of their remedial year 2000 work has been slightly reduced, to about £310 million for the whole project.
All NHS organisations are required to be fully prepared, with compliant equipment or effective contingency plans, by 30 September 1999. Organisations that are lagging behind are being visited by teams from the NHS executive regional offices and the NHS year 2000 central team, and are being required to develop action plans to enable them to be on schedule. Her Majesty's fire and police inspectorates are now completing the first stages of their programmes of independent assessment of the fire and police services in England and Wales, and the results of those inspections will be made public in the national infrastructure forum on 13 July. The aim is that, by September, no risk of disruption involving the millennium date change can be identified in any force or brigade.
Summary information provided by the Audit Commission indicates that, while all types of local authority have made progress during the last six months, there is still a wide variation between the best-performing and poorest-performing authorities. The results of independent assessments of individual local authorities will be presented by Government offices to the national infrastructure forum on 13 July.
We are now fewer than 200 days away from the date change--an event which, I am sure, is now beginning to seem more real to many people as they start to make their preparations and plan their own celebrations. It is clear from the overall picture of central Government and the wider public sector that a huge amount of work has been done, and in many instances that work has been almost completed; but much needs to be done in the time that remains. Departments that plan to finish their programmes in the last quarter must ensure that they have robust continuity plans which have been tested, and we shall monitor their progress in that regard.
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