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9 March 2000
SECOND OUTLINE NATIONAL CHANGEOVER PLAN PUBLISHED
The Government today publishes the Second Outline National Changeover Plan, which sets out the continued progress on euro preparations.
Commenting, the Chancellor Gordon Brown said:
"I am placing today in the House of Commons Library and publishing today the second draft national changeover plan.
"The Government's policy towards the euro is to prepare and decide.
"The Euro Standing Committee includes - the Governor of the Bank, the President of the CBI, representatives of business, consumer organisations and government departments. We met on Tuesday and discussed the draft changeover plan.
"In the draft plan we are publishing today, we update the departmental preparations being made. These include preparations in the three departments who face the most complex task - Customs, Inland Revenue and the DSS - where we are building in euro compatibility as we modernise computer programmes."
The public sector has shown a continued commitment to prepare:
- Customs & Excise and the Inland Revenue (the revenue departments) have a better understanding of the likely demand for their services during a changeover;
- legislation has been passed to allow the revenue departments and the Department of Social Security (DSS) to invest in preparations for their large and complex IT systems; and
- all Government departments and key agencies have undertaken initial changeover planning.
Working with the business sector has and continues to form a key part of the changeover planning process. Real progress has been made, for example:
- the retail financial sector, working with the revenue departments, has assessed likely demand for euro services during the different phases of a changeover;
- a draft Consumers Code of Practice has been developed with the aim of maintaining consumer confidence during a changeover; and
- the City is already successfully dealing in the euro and the decision has been made to enhance payment systems making a changeover to the euro easier.
The Second Outline National Changeover Plan includes more detail on what might happen at each phase of a changeover, should the UK decide to join the single currency. It looks at the lessons learned so far from the changeover in the first wave, provides new estimates of the volume of notes and coins that would be needed as well as the key requirements of a distribution plan. And it provides estimates of the potential timings of specific communication programmes during the different phases of a changeover.
The Government will continue to work in partnership with business, the wider public sector and the voluntary sector to take forward planning. The revenue departments will draw up proposals during 2000 to consult on the tax services (the reporting and collection of taxes) they would offer during a changeover. Also:
- changeover planning will be extended to local authorities and NHS bodies in a rolling programme during 2000;
- the revenue departments and DSS plan to invest around £20 million in total in preparations for their large and complex IT systems in 2000/2001;
- work will continue by retail financial sector to develop an understanding of likely demand for euro services during a changeover;
- individual sectors will take the principles from the draft Consumers Code of Practice and use them to work up more detailed codes for use in their own sectors with a report on progress by the end of 2000.
The Second Outline National Changeover Plan can be accessed by clicking on the link below. Hard copies are available from the Public Enquiry Unit on 020 7270 4558.