STORY:
England Wiping Out Y2K Bug

According to the BBC, the UK government says it has made good progress in fixing the Millennium Bug, although a number of departments and agencies still have some way to go.

"Almost half of departments have now completed work on business-critical IT systems - that means the problems have been fixed, the fix has been tested and the system is back in operation," or so says the Leader of the House of Commons, Margaret Beckett.

Mrs. Beckett, announcing her fifth quarterly progress review, said she was concerned at slow progress at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and there remained "no room for slippage in the large and complex defense programme."

She said the police's progress on business continuity planning - how they would deliver key services in the event of a failure - was disappointing. Twenty-seven of the 46 forces in England and Wales do not yet have an initial plan in place, she said.

There had been slow improvement across local government in England and Wales and the picture in Scotland was mixed.

In a separate statement, the Defense Secretary, George Robertson, said all frontline units would be Y2K compliant by late summer. Key points in its Millennium Bug program were:

• The nuclear deterrent had been thoroughly checked and there was no Y2K safety risk.
• All RAF aircraft were certified safe to fly on January 1 1999 and will be mission-capable by May 31.
• Royal Navy ships and submarines are being assessed by August.
• All mission-critical systems in the Army will be ready by September.

Source: BBC

DATE: 3/19/99

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