Millennium bug threat being taken seriously

Britain's biggest companies are still taking the threat of the Millennium Bug extremely seriously, it was claimed today.

Britain's biggest companies are still taking the threat of the Millennium Bug extremely seriously, it was claimed today.

A survey of the top 1,000 companies was commissioned by independent campaigners Taskforce 2000 and consultants Adam Associates.

It showed that despite official assurances that all will be well, the majority of firms (more than 90%) are making detailed plans to limit the effects of disruption.

Robin Guenier, chief executive of Taskforce 2000, said businesses had been kept in the dark by the Government, which explained why firms were making emergency plans.

'This is a clear indication that the possibility of infrastructure failure is a major concern, and that companies are taking action to offset it,' he said.

'The truth is that we are all in the dark and it is time that the government made full information available, not just the discredited traffic light system.'

Mr Guenier has maintained for some time that the Government's Action 2000 programme was inadequate because it had not disclosed all the information it has gathered about the nation's state of readiness for the millennium computer problem.

According to Taskforce 2000's survey, 98% of companies thought it was necessary to take action to protect their business against the risk of disruption.

Nearly all (92%) believed problems would arise from outside their organisation.Additionally, 84% made it a priority to prepare for power failures, 86% for loss of telecommunications links, 90% for third party failure, 97% for systems failures, and 82% for loss of buildings and facilities.

And about a third (31%) said the seriousness of the so-called Y2K problem was brought home by millennium-related failures that had already begun to occur.

Richard Pursey, chief executive of Adam Associates, said: 'The commitment to crisis planning is perhaps best illustrated by the number that have already seen a Y2K-triggered interruption.'This demonstrates that the problem is real and is not the hype and exaggeration many would have us believe.'end