§ Mr. Colemanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish in the Official Report a list of all the joint companies that have been established between private firms and the British Steel Corporation since May 1979 to the present date; if he will also give the total value of the British Steel Corporation assets concerned; and what amount the private sector paid for them.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 19 December 1984, c. 249]: The joint companies formed between the British Steel Corporation and private firms since May 1979 and which are currently in existence are as follows:
Name of company Date of formation Teesside Slag Ltd. October 1979 Firth Brown Fox Ltd. October 1979 Allied Steel and Wire (Holdings) Ltd. March 1981 Offshore Castings Ltd. May 1981 Hobbs Cornelly Ltd. March 1982 Catena Ltd. April 1982 Sheffield Forgemasters (Holdings) plc July 1982 British Bright Bar Ltd. December 1982 Hadfields (Holdings) Ltd. June 1983 Seamless Tubes Ltd. December 1983 Clyde Shaw Ltd. January 1984 Flixborough Wharf Ltd. January 1984 Cold Drawn Tubes Ltd. March 1984 Not all these joint companies involved the transfer of BSC assets, and in some cases the basis of the joint companies was a pooling of assets with another company rather than a purchase of BSC assets by a new joint company. The total value of BSC assets transferred to the above list was approximately £195 million. The terms of private sector involvement in these ventures are commercially confidential.