Trust Ports (Hansard, 12 November 1991)

§ Ms. Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give details of the liquid assets currently held by each trust port on 31 July 1991.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
Port authorities produce annual accounts, but I have no information on their mid-year financial positions.

§ Ms. Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how he plans to ensure that the objectives set out in the transfer schemes for trust ports are made binding on the successful bidder; and what safeguards exist to ensure that memoranda and articles agreed by him in respect of the new company will not be changed following the completion of the sale to the successful bidder.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
The purpose of a transfer scheme is to effect the transfer of a trust port's existing undertaking to a successor company with a view to the subsequent disposal of that company's securities: such schemes do not contain operational objectives for the successor company. However, in cases where a port is to be sold to a single buyer, objectives of sale are agreed between the authority concerned and the Government. Prospective purchasers will then be required to demonstrate to the authority in the bidding process how they intend to meet those objectives, and this information will be taken into account by an authority in their assessment of competing bids.
Such objectives cannot by their nature be legally binding. In determining the company's business objectives, and in deciding whether to make alterations to its memorandum and articles however, the new owner of the port will need to take account of the plans on which his bid has been based, and the statutory powers and duties of the company. The relevant provisions of the Companies Act 1985 relating to alterations to the memorandum and articles will of course apply in the same way as they do to any other company.

§ Ms. Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how amendments made by him to the proposed transfer schemes of trust ports are to be incorporated into competing bids.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
Before finalising their bids, prospective purchasers of a trust port will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the provisions of any order made 431W under section 9 of the Ports Act 1991, confirming that port's transfer scheme with or without modifications. They will therefore be able to determine their final bid in the light of any modification which may have been made.

§ Ms Walley
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give details of those trust ports which have to date submitted proposals to privatise under the provisions of the Ports Act 1991; and if he will give in respect of each the timetable for(a) the deadline by which representations have to be received, (b) the completion date of the transfer of the trust port to the newly established company, and for (c) the date when it is expected to name the successful bidder.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
To date, four ports have formally submitted schemes of transfer: Tees and Hartlepool port authority, Medway ports authority, the Port of London authority for the port of Tilbury, and Clyde ports authority. The deadline for the end of the representations period in each case is as follows: for Tees, 24 September; for Medway, 2 October; for Clyde, 13 December. There is under the Act no representations period for the Port of Tilbury. The dates for completion of the transfer schemes and the naming of the successful bidder in each case are not yet known. The former will depend on the extent and nature of the modifications to any particular scheme that appears necessary in the light of representations and other factors and after consulting the relevant authority. The latter will depend on the date on which each authority recommends a bidder and the timing of the decision on whether to accept that recommendation.