Written question asked by Christopher Chope (Conservative) on Thursday, 12 November 1998, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 November 1998. It was answered by Alan Milburn (Labour) on Thursday, 19 November 1998 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the conclusions of Taskforce 2000 published on 11th November in respect of his Department's most recent quarterly return on plans and progress towards Year 2000 readiness.

Answer: Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the conclusions of Taskforce 2000 published on 11 November in respect of his Department's most recent quarterly return on plans and progress towards Year 2000 readiness. [60220] Mr. Milburn: The Taskforce 2000 report provided a comprehensive assessment of the state of preparedness of the Department and its agencies as it existed at the end of the summer. We welcome any independent analysis of our published returns as a double check of analysis done in-house. The Medicines Control Agency are well aware of the problems identified and were already acting on these prior to the publication of the Taskforce 2000 report. The figures contained in the last published quarterly review for the National Health Services Estates Agency are open to different interpretations, but were classified as 'green' (low risk) by the Central Information Technology Unit in the Cabinet Office. The results of the next quarterly review will be announced shortly in the House and copies of the Department's and its agencies' latest quarterly returns will be available in the Library and published on the Internet.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 60220; 319 c880W
Session: 1997-98
Subjects: Computers Government departments Millennium compliance Department of Health Taskforce 2000