§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the meetings the right hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson), as Secretary of State for Trade Industry, and his officials had with representatives of British Aerospace and GEC Marconi to discuss(a) their joint sponsorship of the Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome and (b) their merger. [149477]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 8 February 2001]: The commitment to support the Millennium Dome by British Aerospace and GEC Marconi was announced by the previous Administration in 1996. The offer by the companies jointly to sponsor the Dome's Mind Zone was announced on 26 November 1998.
I am advised that neither my right hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson) nor his officials had meetings with the companies to discuss their sponsorship of the Dome.
As the Prime Minister had made clear since his statement with the French and German Heads of Government in December 1997, there was an urgent need to restructure the aerospace and defence industries in Europe to compete in world markets. The right hon. Member for Hartlepool, in his capacity as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and his officials discussed this issue at a number of meetings with representatives of British Aerospace and GEC during 1998.
The Government's position was at all times that it was for industry itself, not the Government, to make specific proposals for restructuring. Any resulting merger would be considered on its own merits by the relevant competition authorities.
§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if(a) the right hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson), (b) officials at his Department and (c) representatives of British Aerospace and GEC Marconi, informed him of the joint sponsorship by British Aerospace and GEC Marconi of the Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome before he approved the merger of the two companies. [149478]
§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons he turned down the advice of the Director General of the Office of Fair Trading when reaching a decision on the merger of British Aerospace and GEC Marconi. [149481]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 8 February 2001]: The Boards of British Aerospace and GEC announced on 19 January 1999 that they had reached agreement on the principal terms of a proposed reconstruction under which Marconi Electronic Systems would be separated from GEC and merged with British Aerospace.
704WThe civil aspects of the proposed merger were cleared by the European Commission on 25 June 1999. I considered the military aspects of the proposed merger under the merger control provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973. The reasons for my decision to seek and subsequently to accept from BAE Systems undertakings in lieu of reference to the Competition Commission are set out in my announcements of 9 September 1999 and 28 March 2000.