Taxman at risk from Y2K bug

The Inland Revenue hinted it would not hit its September deadlines for Y2K compliance in Parliament today. The Serious Fraud Office, the Intervention Board and the Northern Ireland Prison Service were also behind schedule, according to a government statement. Leader of the House, Margaret Beckett, said: "Good progress continues to be made with work on the government's business critical systems and in most departments, the bulk of the work is already complete. "However I remain concerned that a number of programmes continue to show slippage. Four departments are indicating for the first time that they will not now complete their programmes until September or later. "The government will continue to manage the process closely. This includes ensuring that full business continuity plans are in place, and tested, by October." Beckett urged organisations not to be complacent about the bug, saying substantial work still needed to be done. ®