Indeed. Many computers are quite unable to cope with that situation. That is the first cause of the problem. The second reason this situation is potentially disastrous lies in its widespread nature. Every computer and every device which has a microprocessor inside it has a clock. This clock records the time and the date and is critical to everything the microprocessor or computer does. We are talking here about lifts, traffic lights, cash registers; but crucially we are talking about hospital equipment such as drips and other life support devices. This applies to virtually every device we use nowadays. This is a real time bomb. If there is one of these microprocessors inside each drip, over each hospital bed, it will be a huge job to get them corrected. This is a very important issue because many of these devices will stop working altogether when confronted with year 2000 information or they will start to perform unpredictably. Either way, chaos could result.
Let me give an example. I will be 63 years old in the year 2000 but a computer recording my age may well read that I am minus 37. This could have a major impact on pay roll, life assurance, retirement and social security programmes. Unless computers are properly programmed, they will either freeze up altogether or they will start spewing out garbage. "Chaos" is the right word to use. I am not trying to create a scare here but there is a very real threat. My concern is that time is fast running out for us to cope with this problem properly. There are 1,023 days left until the year 2000, tomorrow there will be 1,022 and sometime next month we will have reached 999.
We have not awakened to this threat. The more we learn about this problem, the worse it become. When it first came to light, people thought it applied only to large mainframe computers manufactured in the 1960s and 1970s when computer memory was so expensive that programmers had to use two rather than four digits to record dates.
As time goes on it transpires the problem is more pervasive and extends to more recent computers, even to popular personal computers. Most significantly, it extends to tiny microprocessors embedded in almost everything as control mechanisms. That is why the country could grind to a halt before the New Year bells stop ringing on 1 January 2000. Lives, as I described, could be at stake if we do not take the right action in time.
I am not too worried about big business because such companies have computer experts who, I hope, are looking at the implications. In fact, it was the head of information technology in my company, Eric Hayes, who alerted me to the threat and we have been carefully planning our response since. It is expensive, but it must be done. There have been calls in recent weeks at European level for something to be done.
I am profoundly worried about the implications for small businesses, which do not have these resources. I am equally worried about the implications for public services, which are constrained by tight budgets. In the public services many of those who work with microprocessors have no technical knowledge of what makes them work. If a small shopkeeper opens up for business on 1 January 2000 and to his astonishment finds he cannot open the till — because every till has a date and a time stamp in it and is usually connected to certain security — he will have to summon help. However, he will not be able to get help because every other shopkeeper will be fighting for the attention of a handful of service engineers.
Years of work are required to put this right. We will not be able to handle this when it happens. Our only hope of avoiding chaos and financial loss is to begin to deal with it now. It affects not only shops but traffic lights, lifts, life support machines, etc. I will not mention video recorders because nobody knows how to use them. I am worried about what will happen in a busy hospital when its infrastructure suddenly shuts down or starts to behave unpredictably. A wide range of public services on which citizens depend and which in some cases can affect life and death are potentially at risk.
We cannot stop the millennium or move the deadline, which is irrevocably fixed. We cannot solve the problem when it happens because it will be too late. We must start to take action now. March 1997 is infinitely better than December 1999 or even April 1997. The sooner we become aware, the better chance we have of minimising the potential economic and social change. We need a national wake up call not next week, next month or after a general election, but now.
I am sure this issue is on somebody's list, and I hope the Minister of State will confirm that. It is clearly not on the top of a list because until now we have heard virtually nothing about the problem from Government or the media. We must not forget that with a general election looming, we could lose a further six or seven months until the dust settles. That is why a national task force should be put in place before the end of the month. The task force could carry out a national awareness campaign and mastermind whatever measures are necessary to ensure we deal with the problem and minimise the damage, especially that to small businesses and public services. To coin a phrase — tomorrow is too late. We need effective action now if the millennium is to be an occasion of celebration rather than disaster.
