§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many meetings have taken place of the performance review committee he set up to determine the payments due to Mr. Ian MacGregor as chairman of the British Steel Corporation; what costs have been incurred by this committee; what criteria were set by the committee; and to what extent they have been achieved.
§ Mr. ButcherThe performance review committee was set up under an agreement between the previous Secretary of State and Lazard Freres of New York to assess the payments due to Lazard Freres, based on the performance 159W of the British Steel Corporation, in compensation for their agreeing to release Mr. MacGregor to serve as chairman of the Corporation for three years from 1 July 1980. I understand that the Committee has so far met four times. Cost to date total £6,675 and relate entirely to the collation of an extensive range of information as the basis for the committee's assessment. The agreed criteria by which the committee should be guided in determining the performance-related payments were set out in a document deposited in Parliament on 15 April 1981. The first of the two payments does not fall to be determined before BSC' s results for the year ending March 1984 are known.