§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what registerable share holdings under the rules laid down for Ministers are held by the Minister for Transport; what board directorships he resigned on his first appointment as a Minister; and what matters pertaining to his Department's work the Minister does not handle in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest. [109386]
§ Mr. HillThe arrangements put in place by my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Transport for handling his financial interests on his first appointment as a Minister were made clear in a Press Notice issued by the Scottish Office on 3 August 1998. A copy was placed in the Library of the House. Investments which were not disposed of were placed in a blind trust with an instruction234W to the solicitors administering the trust that the trust should not deal in shares which relate to my right hon. and noble Friend's ministerial portfolio. In line with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, my right hon. and noble Friend is not informed of changes in investments or the state of the portfolio. Consequently, my right hon. and noble Friend does not have any potential conflicts of interests.