Action 2000 confident UK will survive bug

British business is well on course to crush the millennium bug according to the latest research from the government's millennium taskforce Action 2000, released Wednesday.

With 32 days to go until the millennium, Action 2000's State of the Nation research shows 99 percent of the FTSE 500 and 93 percent of companies employing 250 or more employees are ready for the date change.

An Action 2000 spokesman believes it will be business as usual over the millennium period and beyond. He predicts "no material disruption" to UK firms.

While big business appears to have finally got its act together, the same is not true of smaller firms. A fifth of small-to-medium sized businesses are not on course to fix bug problems and Action 2000 urged them to get a copy of its Last Chance publication. "It is debatable whether there is still time to fix all problems, but the booklet gives top tips which are absolute musts if you wish to avoid disruption," a spokesman said.