OPENING OF WIDNES DOCUMENT PROCESSING CENTRE HERALDS PROCESING OF 33 MILLION CENSUS FORMS

15 April 2001

WIDNES, Cheshire, United Kingdom--The processing of the U.K. Census is now ready to commence, following the opening here today of one of the most highly automated facilities of its kind in Europe.

Over the next ten months, some 33 million census forms will be processed at ICL’s new, 70,000 square foot national document processing centre in Widnes which is equivalent in size to a Premier League football pitch. It is here that collation of census information will take place with the help of automated computer software that can actually "read" the handwriting on the forms.

Census officials from the three United Kingdom census offices and industry officials gathered at the opening ceremony today.

The opening marked the culmination of two years of joint preparation among Census offices and the industry team of supporters.

"Our team is now ready to begin the huge task of data capture and data coding, which will provide up-to-date information which is vital for the future planning of essential services", said Terry Drabant, President of Lockheed Martin Mission Systems. Lockheed Martin leads the industry support team that includes ICL, Polestar and a large number of industry specialists.

"This critical effort which has been eight years in the planning will draw upon the technologies that will make the United Kingdom’s processing of the Census information faster, more efficient and more accurate than any previous Census", noted Graham Jones, Census Director, Office for National Statistics.

The actual processing will begin in June and will take the better part of a year, with final delivery of the data to the three Census offices in March 2002. Forms will be delivered to the Widnes Centre, owned and staffed by ICL, from secure warehouse storage and will immediately be scanned by computers. These will "read" the images captured, deciphering the handwritten information and converting it into digital format for the computer to process.

"We have successfully recruited and trained over 1,200 people to staff the document processing centre in Widnes as part of this landmark contract where technology is being used to electronically scan the Census forms for the first time" said ICL ‘s Chief Executive Richard Christou. "Not only will these people provide the right skills needed to accomplish the task ahead, but we hope that they will help attract other important processing contracts after the Census project has been completed".

Leader of Halton Borough Council, Councillor Tony McDermott added "The choice of Widnes for this vital operation is most welcome. This project has brought scores of new jobs to the North West, opening up the prospect of further technology expansion in the years ahead by ICL. We're delighted to be host to such an important national undertaking - count us in!"