Scottish utilities win Y2K praise

NEWS Scotland's large utility companies are well on schedule to make their IT systems ready for the millennium bug, according to Action 2000. Gwynneth Flower, MD of the UK government Y2K watchdog, made the announcement at the Scottish National Infrastructure Conference, in Glasgow, where she urged other Scottish businesses to complete the last few hurdles to Y2K readiness. David Henderson, Action 2000's Scottish Programme Manager, said: "The utilities are all on schedule and the results show they are well in line with the rest of Britain and with what we would have hoped and expected." The news will be welcomed by many Scottish businesses, according to Action 2000, since 82 per cent of them see a breakdown in national infrastructure as the biggest single threat to their own Y2K contingency plans. Action 2000 said its main concern in Scotland is now the small business sector. Its figures show that only half of Scottish small firms have made adequate contingency plans for the bug.
Flower urged the other 50 per cent to take swift action, since the small business sector is responsible for 98 per cent of employment in Scotland. She said poor preparation could have severe economic consequences for the country.