§ 70. Ms. ArmstrongTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what progress his Department is making towards the privatisation of the Skills Training Agency.
§ Mr. NichollsAn advertisement about the offer of the Skills Training Agency (STA) for sale appeared in the press in September. The response to the advertisement has been encouraging. My sale advisers, Deloitte Corporate Finance, have issued over 100 copies of an information memorandum about STA to potential bidders who have signed a confidentiality undertaking. The next stage of the sale process will be to draw up a shortlist of bidders whose intentions are to run a training business.