§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the current financial position of the British Transport Docks Board; and what is the total of public funds, including interest payments, it has received in the last five years.
§ Mr. David HowellDuring 1981 the finances of the British Transport Docks Board have suffered, because the volume of trade has remained sluggish, there have been serious and long-running industrial disputes at Southampton, and the Board had incurred high 437W extraordinary costs in the form of severance payments to redundant employees. As a result, the board does not now expect to meet its EFL for 1981–82 of minus £5 million.
I hope to make a further announcement shortly.
The board's requirements for external finance over the previous four years have been as follows:
—million, outturn prices 1977–78 -12 1978–79 -13 1979–80 -7 1980–81 1 Total -31 The reduction in the board's requirement for external finance has largely been in the form of early repayments of loans to the national loans fund: repayments totalled £28 million in the years 1977–1981. The board has also received grants under section 8 of the Railways Act 1974 and grants from the European regional development fund—neither of which count as external finance—totalling £2.66 million over the years 1977–1981.