HL Deb 14 May 1984 vol 451 c1268WA
Lord Bruce of Donington

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will, in respect of British Aerospace, Cable and Wireless, Amersham International. Britoil and Associated British Ports:

  1. (a) state the percentage of the workforce in each company holding shares on 31st March 1984;
  2. (b) state, in terms of the nominal value of shareholdings, the percentage of the total issued share capital as at 31st March 1984 in each company represented by their respective workforce shareholdings at that date; and
  3. (c) indicate, in any instance where the voting rights attaching to the workforce shareholders varies from those attaching to outside shareholders, the nature of the variation.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Cockfield)

: The composition of the share registers of privatised companies and details of the voting rights attached to shares issued since privatisation are matters for the relevant company.

There is no difference between the voting rights of shares issued to employees at the time of privatisation and those of other ordinary shareholders. However, certain shares made available to employees on privatisation are initially held in trust and, while so held, the voting rights attached to the shares will be exercised by the trustees.