§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the National Audit Office report on Consignia. [32245]
647W
§ Ms HewittOn 24 February the NAO published a report to Parliament entitled "Opening the Post: PostComm and postal services—the risks and opportunities". The Government will consider the detail of that report carefully and will comment where appropriate.
§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research her Department has commissioned on the effects of(a) rural post-offices, (b) post-buses and (c) directly employed Consignia staff on economic activity by constituency in each year since 1999. [32247]
§ Ms HewittNo such research has been commissioned. Advice received at the end of last year from the Postal Services Commission on transitional assistance to the rural post office network is under consideration. In addition, the Government have made available a £2 million fund to support volunteer and community initiatives to maintain or reopen post office facilities in rural areas where traditional services would otherwise close.
§ Mr. WhittingdaleTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list those business overseas which have been acquired by Consignia over the last five years, together with the price paid. [30625]
§ Ms HewittConsignia plc has advised that it has acquired overseas companies as listed in the table.
Consignia plc: overseas acquisitions Company Consignia shareholding (%) Total investment £ million CityMail Group 11.2 5 Citipost 100 28 Crie Group 100 15 Der Kurier 100 9 Extand SA 100 97 German Parcel 100 308 GP Austria 100 14 NPD 100 72 Pakke-Trans 100 20 Williames 100 10 CityMail Sweden 67 23 Domberger Paket Dienst 100 45 DGE S.p.A 49 per cent./Agone 49/100 29 648W
Date of announcement Financial commitment in £million Programmes November 2001 £4.68 over six years ARTES 1 (satellite telecommunications) #x00A3;49.85 over six years ARTES 3 (satellite telecommunications) £35 over five years ARTES 4 (satellite telecommunications) £12.6 over two years InfoTerra/TerraSar (operational earth observation) £7.23 over five years Global Monitoring for Environment and Security £147.1 over 10 years Living Planet programme (Earth Observation Envelope Programme) £130 over four years Astronomy and planetary science including new space exploration programme Aurora £1.4 over 3 years Ariane Infrastructure £71 over five years European Space Agency general budget October 2001 £1 National programme—Earth Observation instrumentation development December 1999 £1.4 over three years EMIR-2X (microgravity and life sciences) August 1999 £10.5 over three years ARTES (satellite telecommunications) £5 Beagle 2 (UK project to be launched on a European Space Agency mission) May 1999 £128 over four years Astronomy and planetary science programme £56 over four years European Space Agency general budget £8 Galileo definition stage £4.5 over five years ARTES 1 and 4 (satellite telecommunications) £67 million over 3 years Living Planet programme (Earth Observation Envelope Programme) September 1998 £5 Satellite navigation £4 Living Planet programme (Earth Observation Envelope Programme) £1.65 ENVISAT data processing/archiving
Consignia plc: overseas acquisitions Company Consignia shareholding (%) Total investment £ million DGE S.p.A 51 percent. 51 10 Szybka Pazcka 25 7 GP Slovenia 100 1 GP Czechoslovakia 100 1 Stafetten 100 2 G3WW 24.5 35 M Express 100 1 FDS 100 5 CFI Ltd. 100 8 Note:
The numbers quoted above are total investment. As such they are based on acquisition price/transaction costs/debt assumed/capex and taxations i.e. they reflect the total planned investment in the projects by Consignia.