§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the value was of the land transferred to QinetiQ at(a) Farnborough, (b) Fort Halstead, (c) Chertsey, (d) Funtington and (e) Malvern; what assessment he has made of the potential for housing and other developments on these sites; and what clawback arrangements there are in the event of substantial increases in value for the properties transferred. [87714]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 17 December 2002]: In line with normal business practice, QinetiQ and its predecessor the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) frequently reviewed its estate in order to ensure that it was making efficient use of its property portfolio. Because a number of sites have already been scheduled for disposal, the value of the individual sites is commercially sensitive, and therefore specific details of the information requested are being withheld in accordance with Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information which relates to commercial confidences.
The majority of properties were transferred to QinetiQ on the basis of their value as part of the ongoing business and in most cases the value of the property as part of the business was higher than would be achieved through a sale of the land on the open market. These values were assessed by external valuers immediately before the properties were transferred to QinetiQ at vesting. The total value of the land and buildings transferred from the Ministry of Defence to QinetiQ in use in the continuing business was £342 million. Due to the specialist nature of QinetiQ's business the valuation is based on depreciated replacement cost, and this amount was £114 million greater than the open market value. This amount does not include surplus properties held for disposal which on transfer to QinetiQ in July 2001 had an open market 404W value of £98 million, that was subsequently reduced by impairment of £20 million, as stated in the company's annual report 2002.
The sale provisions contain clawback arrangements to ensure that the taxpayer receives a suitable share of any unanticipated or excess profits arising from land disposals.