Written question asked by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour), in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 29 November 1996. It was answered by Alistair Burt (Conservative) on Friday, 29 November 1996 on behalf of the Department of Social Security.

Dept of Social Security

Question: How many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems.

Answer: Mr. Hoon: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems. [5348] Mr. Burt: The Department uses a mixture of in-house developed and proprietary software packages. Information on the number of lines of source code used in the proprietary software packages is known only to the supplier. The in-house developed software contains millions of lines of code and the cost of counting these would be disproportionate. An analysis of this software is currently being carried out as part of our strategy for dealing with the year 2000 date change. This will identify what software changes are required, and the analysis will be completed by January 1997.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 5348; 286 c414W;286 c412W
Session: 1996-97
Subjects: Software Computers Department of Social Security Government departments