MoD Housing: Sale Proceeds

HL Deb 11 February 1997 vol 578 cc17-8WA

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether receipts from the sale of Ministry of Defence housing are being counted as "negative departmental spending", rather than as capital privatisation receipts, and if so why.

Earl Howe

Some £641 million of the receipts due in 1996–97 from the sale of the married quarters estate in England and Wales will be surrendered to the Consolidated Fund as Extra Receipts (CFERs). The balance, some £304 million, will be treated as negative expenditure and will be appropriated onto defence Votes, as will the full £700 million of receipts due in 1997–98. The proceeds from the sale are not being counted as receipts from privatisation, as they arise from the sale of fixed assets rather than company securities.