As the new century beckons and businesses are gearing up their millennium bug-busting procedures, help is at hand.

Surrey TEC has taken the lead in offering bug-busting services after Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a 20,000 strong army to address the problem and backed it with £70 million funding.

And Richmond Chamber of Commerce is holding an event on September 9 offering practical guidance on the threats presented by the bug as well as the general advantages of the Internet for local businesses.

It will take place at Richmond College.

Surrey TEC will subsidise companies with up to 199 employees to train staff in assessing and fixing IT systems, or companies can work as a consortium and sponsor one member of staff to do the training.

Richard Wormell, managing director of Surrey TEC, said: "There are only 400 working days to diffuse the millennium timebomb - small and medium-sized businesses in Surrey need to realise that one of the ways to solve this problem is to train one of their own staff."

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