HC Deb 20 April 1988 vol 131 cc821-2
6. Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress of the privatisation of the Crown Suppliers.

Mr. Chope

I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) on 25 March.

Mr. Dalyell

How is the public interest to be taken into account and how are severance pay and pensions to be guaranteed?

Mr. Chope

The public interest will always be taken into account in any privatisation project. Accrued pension rights will be fully protected, or transferred to the new pension scheme if the staff so wishes.

Mr. Hind

I hope that my hon. Friend will take into consideration the concerns of the Crown Suppliers' employees. Will he ensure that he listens carefully to the views of the unions that represent the work force? Will he ensure also that their pensions and terms and conditions of employment following privatisation are properly looked after?

Mr. Chope

I assure my hon. Friend that I shall take into account the views of staff. On a recent visit to Hastings, where the Crown Suppliers employ more than 100 people, I had a face-to-face meeting with members of the staff.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

Is the Minister aware that many of us do not believe that savings will be available from this privatisation? For example, the Minister decided to have Richmond Terrace valued by private valuers at a charge of £40,000, when there were officials within the Department of the Environment who were capable of making the valuation for £1,200? Is it not true that the Minister lost the taxpayer over £38,000 due to the stupidity of his decision, which was taken as a result of his obsessive attitudes to privatisation?

Mr. Chope

I am not sure that the hon. Gentleman has his mathematics right. The decision that the private sector should value Richmond Terrace was taken in the best interests of government. It was the first time that there had been any new office development in the Whitehall area for many years and it was important to obtain an expert assessment of the rental value and the opportunity-costs of the offices.

Mr. Boyes

It is clear that the Minister is not taking into account the views of the staff. Since his statement on the future of Crown Suppliers on 3 February, and the parliamentary questions that followed it, he has given neither trade unions nor the House any assurances about the future of the work force. Is the Minister aware that of the 171 staff who have requested a transfer, 138 have given privatisation as a reason for doing so? Given the low morale of the work force, is not the Minister's callous treatment of it utterly reprehensible?

Mr. Chope

No, it is not. Following the discussions which I had with members of the work force in Hastings, to which I referred, I understand that the work force has accepted that I am taking close account of its interests in this matter.

Mr. Dalyell

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's reply, I shall seek to raise the matter on the Adjournment.