§ Mr. MansTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether any further progress has been made on the disposal of the subsidiaries of British Shipbuilders; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonPursuant to my answer to the hon. Member of 16 March at column282, I am pleased to report that William Steward and Company, Ltd. has now acquired British Shipbuilders' pipe work and electrical contracting subsidiary Sunderland Forge Services Ltd. This will become the centre for the Steward group's expansion into building services contracting in the north-east. The whole of William Steward's subsidiary, Durham Switch Gear Ltd., will shortly be moving its switch gear manufacturing activities, together with 135 employees, from nearby Washington into the factory previously owned by Sunderland Forge Services. William Steward's has in addition taken on nearly 200 of the previous 254 employees of Sunderland Forge Services and believes there is a good prospect of more jobs to come.
On 16 March I also told the House of my agreement to the disposal of British Shipbuilders Training Ltd. at Govan to a management team. This sale has now also been successfully completed, thereby maintaining an important training resource in Govan and south of the Clyde providing employment for 28 people in the area of training and management consultancy.
Finally, I can report that British Shipbuilders has now received a number of new bids for its design and computing subsidiary, Marine Design Consultants Ltd., based at Sunderland and Dundee. As with the new bids 189W that have been received for Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd., these are now being assessed by the corporation and its advisers.