§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the Government's privatisation programme since 1979, and what were(a) the net receipts from each sale, (b) the number of shareholders now registered for each privatised company, (c) the number of employee shareholders in each privatised company and (d) the profit or loss for each company in their final year in state ownership.
§ The Prime MinisterPrivatisation is recognised worldwide as one of this Government's bold and far-reaching achievements. Twenty-nine major businesses have been privatised and almost 50 per cent. of the 1979 state sector and around 800,000 jobs have been transferred to the private sector. Receipts so far amount to some £27.5 billion, with future sales projected at a rate of about £5 billion a year.
The information my hon. Friend requests is as follows. Figures for the number of shareholders are taken from the latest published reports and accounts of the companies, which do not provide the figures for employee shareholders.
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Company Date of privatisation Net proceeds to HMG £ million Number of shareholders Profit/(loss) before privatisation £ million Royal Ordnance (trade sale) 1987 185 n/a 26 Rolls Royce 1987 1,028 738,659 120 BAA 1987 1,183 889,067 84 Rover (trade sale) 1988 150 n/a 28 British Steel 1988 2,437 419,726 207 10 Water Companies 1989 63,480 Anglian Water 1989 7274,167 72.7 Northumbrian Water 1989 255,476 6.4 North West Water 1989 244,491 44.3 Severn Trent 1989 317,673 97.5 Southern Water 1989 261,704 65.1 South West Water 1989 129,064 38.1 Thames Water 1989 680,816 207.2 Welsh Water 1989 143,099 24.9 Wessex Water 1989 188,541 24.1 Yorkshire Water 1989 210,091 55.7 Notes:
n/a—Not available.
1Approximate.
2Part of BP since 1988. Shareholder figure given for 1987.
3Proceeds went to the nationalised industry as vendor as follows:
Sealink: £66 million to British Rail;
Jaguar: £297 million to British Leyland;
Warship Yards: £54 million to British Shipbuilders.
4Jaguar shares no longer listed—part of Ford. Figure as October 1989.
5Includes £2,500 million debenture repayable to the Consolidated Fund.
6Includes £73 million debenture repayable to the Consolidated Fund.
7Shareholder figures for the water companies represent the number of original allocatees recorded on the interim register for each company. This information was originally given by the Minister with responsibility for Water in a Written Answer on 24 January 1989 (Vol. 165, col. 747.)