§ Mr. BoothTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the saving to public funds if the Ordnance Survey were privatised.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe first review of Ordnance Survey's performance as an executive agency was carried ow: in 1994. It concluded that agency status had been a spur to significant improvements in performance. Consultants employed to look at options for the future status of Ordnance Survey assessed that it would continue to progress well with its current status and recommended that it should remain an executive agency for the time being. The consultants believed that privatisation offered potential benefits as well as disadvantages but found that various obstacles precluded any change of status in the immediate future. They were unable, at that time, to quantify the full costs of privatisation or subsequent savings to public funds. Government accepted these recommendations and OS will remain an agency for the next four years at least. In the meantime, I have tasked the chief executive of Ordnance Survey with investigating the obstacles to privatisation so that these costs and benefits can be established.