§ Mr. FlanneryTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the formula used to calculate Northern Ireland's attributed share of United Kingdom taxes.
§ Mr. LilleyThe ways in which certain taxes are collected means that, for Northern Ireland, a share of the revenue yield must be attributed by applying a set formula. These are set out in Statutory Instruments 1975/1313, 1977/1879, 1983/1599 and 1988/1667, made under section 15 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
2Wmeasure since 1987, the Government's merchant bank advisers, brokers, reporting accountants and solicitors and details of any advertising agency involved; and whether any form of competitive tendering was undertaken in each case.
§ Mr. LilleyThe Government's merchant bank advisers, brokers and solicitors in each privatisation 1987 are listed below. Reporting accountants and advertising agencies employed in the sales were usually joint appointments with the company, and are also listed. In addition, a number of sales of subsidiaries were carried out by nationalised industries. Details of the advisers for these sales are not held centrally.
In each of the privatisations the appointment of merchant bank advisers, brokers and advertising agencies was subject to competition.
The appointment of reporting accounts was subject to competition in all except two of the cases listed. In the case of Short Brothers the company's auditors were appointed without obtaining alternative tenders, to take advantage of their existing knowledge as this was expected to give rise to worthwhile savings in terms of time and costs. In the case of the Skills Training Agency, Deloitte, Haskins and Sells were appointed on a single tender basis, following the appointment of Deloitte Corporate Finance as merchant bank advisers. In each case a competitive rate was negotiated.
The appointment of solicitors was subject to competition in all cases except Rover, where Slaughter and May were appointed jointly with Barings Brothers.