§ Mr. Meacher asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list those State owned assets for which his Department is responsible which have been already privatised with dates of the sale in each case; how much funding has been raised by their sale or is expected to be raised in future; what further plans he has for privatisation of publicly owned assets in future; and what sums he expects to raise in each case.
§ Mr. Lawson:For receipts from special asset disposals in 1979–80 and 1980–81 I refer the hon. Member to the written reply given by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to my hon. Friend the Member for Chertsey and Walton (Mr. Pattie) on 19 October 1981. The disposals for which my Department was responsible were British National Oil Corporation receipts of advanced 402W payments for oil and receipt of premiums for the seventh round North Sea licences. These receipts took place in March and December 1980, respectively.
The decision to privatise Amersham International Limited was announced during the passage of the Atomic Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1981. I refer to the statement that I made on 19 October 1981—[Vol. 10, c. 10]—for the details of future privatisation of BGC and BNOC assets.
It is not practicable to give a forecast of the likely proceeds.