§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will explain how rule 8 of the rules governing acceptance of outside appointments by Crown servants was applied from autumn 1988 to the three civil servants who are directors of Astra Training Services Ltd.; and if he will make a statement;
(2) whether the rules on acceptance of outside appointments by Crown servants applied to the three civil servants who are also directors of Astra Training Services Ltd.; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarMembers of the management buyout team did not form a company and become directors of it until May 1989. This was after my right hon. Friend's statement to the House of 13 March 1989 about the privatisation of STA, in which he announced the existence of a management buyout team.
The rules on acceptance of outside appointments by Crown servants do not cover the particular circumstances of a management buyout; nevertheless—as I explained in my reply to the hon. Member on 27 March—measures were taken in April 1989 to remove the three officers concerned from direct responsibility for sensitive decisions, well before they formed a company.
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§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 27 March, why he is unable to provide the honourable Member for Bradford, South with the amount of fees and expenses paid to Deloittes and other advisers until summer 1990; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarI have nothing to add to my answer to the hon. Member on 27 March at column158. Total fees and expenses paid to all advisers from the start of the feasibility study in December 1988 up to 26 March 1990 were £514,850. This figure excludes VAT.
§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the grades and range of duties of the three civil servants forming Astra Training Services Ltd.
§ Mr. EggarThe duties and grades of the three civil servants are: head of skill centre operations grade 5, head of finance and accounting service grade 6, head of product development grade 6.
§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the investment in plant and machinery allowed for in the next financial year to each skill centre being purchased by Astra Training Services Ltd.; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarThe plans made by Astra Training Services Limited for those parts of the Skills Training Agency they will purchase include investment of over £11 million in the first three years of operation. The precise details of their intended investment is a matter for Astra.
§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the price to be paid by Astra Training Services Ltd. for the training college at Letchworth; why it is to be relocated at Milton Keynes; what is to happen to the existing premises; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarI have agreed terms of sale with Astra Training Services Limited covering 46 skillcentres, together with the Skills Training Agency's head office, mobile training service, sales teams and colleges, and involving a payment from the Government to Astra of some £l1 million. Any value Astra may have ascribed within the sale package to individual units such as the training college at Letchworth is a matter for them. It is Astra's decision to relocate the business to Milton Keynes. The existing premises at Letchworth will be offered for sale by the Government in due course.
§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment who were the official advisers to the three civil servants who became directors of Astra Training Services Ltd. from autumn 1988; and who paid the fees involved.
§ Mr. EggarThe three members of the management buyout (MBO) team who formed Astra Training Services Limited, appointed Coopers and Lybrand to advise on their bid for the Skills Training Agency and Irwin Mitchell to provide legal advice. As envisaged in the statement by my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir N. Fowler) on 13 March last year (Official Report, column 23), the Government offered the MBO team financial assistance to make a bid. That assistance will be repayable to the Government when the sale is concluded, leaving Astra to finance the full cost of advisers' fees as part of the costs of the acquisition.