§ Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 10 July 2002.,Official Report, column 1030w, on the Royal Mint; if he will make a statement on progress on the independent review. [74288]
§ Ruth KellyThe independent review has now been completed.
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings each of the Royal Mint's non-executive directors have attended in the last 12 months. [78340]
§ Ruth KellyThe table shows the number of occasions on which each of the Royal Mint's non-executive directors have been able to attend meetings of the Board and Audit Committee in the last year (period covered 1 November 2001 to 31 October 2002).
Management Board Audit Committee David Stark 6 2 Lyndon Hadden 6 2 Jan Smith 6 2 David Trapnell 5 1 Lucy Woods 2 — The non-executive directors' contribution of course goes much wider than this, offering advice and challenge in less formal ways.
785W
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the(a) statutory, (b) economic and (c) security reasons preventing the Treasury from splitting its contract for circulating coins between manufacturer, design and specification. [78347]
§ Ruth KellyThe Royal Mint, a government department financed by a trading fund, is the part of central government currently responsible for the manufacture and issue of UK circulation coins. It carries out these functions in agreement with HM Treasury as the department with overall responsibility for the economy and financial affairs. The Royal Mint Advisory Committee, a separate public body, the members of which are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Chancellor, is currently responsible for advice on coin design.
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the Royal Mint's fixed costs are covered by its Treasury contract for UK coin production in 2001–2002. [78345]
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Royal Mint is benefiting from the contribution to overheads made on its monopoly circulating coin contract with the Treasury to price down overseas contracts in competition with the privately owned Birmingham Mint. [78343]
§ Ruth KellyThe detail of the Royal Mint's agreement with the Treasury for the supply of domestic circulating coin is commercially confidential and cannot be disclosed in accordance with Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The agreement is a challenging one for the Mint, providing a commercial rate of return below that expected of the business overall. The Mint believes that there is no cross-subsidisation involved between the UK circulating coin element of the business and the overseas business, and is preparing with the involvement of the National Audit Office a confidential note for the Public Accounts Committee which sets out the evidence.
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what(a) statutory and (b) security issues preclude the Treasury from putting out to tender its requirement for (i) UK circulating coins and (ii) manufacture of blanks-for-sterling coins. [78338]
§ Ruth KellyThere are no insurmountable statutory obstacles to putting the arrangements for the supply of circulation coins out to tender. Of key importance however is security of supply.
The Treasury keeps the arrangements for the supply of circulation coins under review. The current arrangements with the Royal Mint have several years to run. They are designed to enable both the Treasury and the Mint to plan for the medium term on a commercial basis, and to ensure a cost-effective supply of coins to meet demand.
It is only finished coins that are obtained from the Royal Mint. Whether to purchase blanks from outside sources, for use in the production of UK circulation coinage, is a commercial decision for the Mint.
786W
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which joint ventures have been(a) concluded and (b) disbanded by the Royal Mint in the period since December 1999. [78341]
§ Ruth KellyThe Royal Mint enters into and terminates a wide variety of business relationships, contracts and other ventures.
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what the(a) sales and (b) revenue forecasts for (i) UK and (ii) overseas coin sales the Capital Investment Programme for the Royal Mint in 1997 to 2000 was based. [78342]
§ Ruth KellyThe underlying internal commercial assumptions and forecasts used were drawn from the Royal Mint's Corporate Plan and based on the experience of management at the time.
§ Mr. SimonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the Royal Mint has bought in coin blanks in the last five years, and what the quantity has been in each of these cases. [78339]
§ Ruth KellyThe following table gives the number of contracts awarded for circulating coin blanks for the last 5 years together with the total quantity ordered in each year.
Contracts Tonnes 2001–02 2 3 2000–01 6 559 1999–00 — — 1998–99 8 1737 1997–98 4 715