§ 12. Mr. David Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any plans to privatise or sell off any of the activities currently run or owned by the Scottish Development Agency.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherIt is the Government's intention that the agency should continue to secure private sector participation in its activities and dispose of assets in accordance with its guidelines.
§ Mr. MarshallWill the Minister give an absolute assurance that private enterprise money introduced into SDA ventures, such as the construction and letting of industrial estates, will not become a Trojan horse, whereby once the estates are fully let they will be sold off to the private enterprise partner at rock-bottom prices?
§ Mr. FletcherThere is no suggestion of anything being sold off at less than market value. The hon. Gentleman 335 will be pleased to know that the funds coming to the agency from private disposals help to generate new investment.
§ Mr. AncramDoes my hon. Friend agree that the main purpose of the SDA should be to promote and assist industry to stand on its own two feet and that it should not be a backdoor method of nationalisation and state monopoly?
§ Mr. FletcherOn the contrary, the agency's functions are to work in partnership with the private sector, as I think my hon. Friend is suggesting, and to secure the maximum amount of private sector participation in its activities.
Mr. Ron Brown (Leith)Will the Minister allow the SDA to take over the Bonnington mills rather than John Smart and company, which has a vested interest in the area and supports the Tory party, having given it £30,000 in 1981 and £40,000 last year?
Is it not important that public inquiries should be a democratic feature of our country? Why should the SDA not have a right to intervene in such a case, about which the Minister is well aware as it is in his constituency?
§ Mr. FletcherI think that the hon. Gentleman is referring to a private housing development, in which the SDA does not involve itself.