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By Suzanna Kerridge, 19 August 1999 00:30

NEWS The government could be heading for a potential political disaster unless it heeds warnings from independent bodies that Britain is not prepared for the millennium bug. That's the prediction of Robin Guenier, head of Taskforce 2000, following a damning public accounts committee report into public service Y2K-readiness. "The government has handled Year 2000 badly and the political issue is bound to come to the fore soon. It is going to get criticised when things go wrong, especially as ministers continue to say that everything is going well. How can they continue to reconcile the government view that it will be alright on the night when all independent reports say the opposite?" questioned Guenier. The committee report, entitled 'The Millennium Threat', says it is disappointing that central government, and in particular the emergency services, have failed to sufficiently tackle the bug. Despite a significant and costly programme of work "there is still much to be done before all key systems are shown to be millennium compliant," claims the report.
Police forces and fire brigades are accused of not being "as far down the track as they should be". Responding to the allegations, Ken Jones, assistant chief constable at Avon and Somerset Police, said: "I'm certain the report is based on old information. The tension that's been raised is misplaced because all forces but one have been coded as amber - which means that while there is some risk, there are containment plans in place to reassure people that if nothing else is done everything will be OK." Action 2000 agrees, claiming a great deal of progress has been made since the committee started its report. But Guenier claims the report's findings are not a new discovery, as they have already been stated by a large number of august independent bodies, including the Audit Commission.