§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money was spent on advertising of privatisation sales for each sale since 1979.
§ Mr. DorrellThe table shows the cost to the Government of advertising in each privatisation by flotation or secondary share sale since BT. Information on the advertising costs of earlier sales is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Advertising costs in privatisations £ million Share Offer Year Advertising cost (ex. VAT) BT 1984 9.7 Britoil 1985 3.0 Cable & Wireless 1985 2.2 British Aerospace 1985 1.7 British Gas 1986 21.4 British Airways 1987 2.8 Rolls-Royce 1987 1.6 BAA 1987 4.9 BP 1987 18.3 British Steel 1988 4.9 182W
Shareholdings1 in Privatised and Former Government-Controlled Companies Size of share register Company Date of Privatisation Initial Highest since Privatisation3 Current Proportion of shares retained by HMG Proportion and dates of subsequent disposals percentage percentage British Petroleum December 19772 n/a 550,821 (31 Dec 91) 51 4 5.17/Nov 79: 7.12/ Sep 83: 31.5/Sep87: 0.09/ Oct 90 on 1.1.91 HMG held about 1.88 British Aerospace February 1981 27,179 120,200 (Dec 86) 87,700 (31 Dec 91) 48.43 48.43/10.5.85 Cable and Wireless October 1981 27,320 210,994 (31 Mar 86) 166,179 (31 Mar 90) 50.64 27.54/Nov83: 23.1/ Dec 85 Amersham International February 1982 10,051 5,243 (29 May 92) nil NFC February 1982 10,300 60,000 (Feb 92) nil Britoil November 1982 37,257 245,556 (31 Dec 85) owned by BP 49.0 49.0/8.8.85 Associated British Ports February 1983 37,205 14,694 (26 June 92) 48.5 48.5/17.4.84 Enterprise Oil June 1984 13,695 14,166 (June 85) 10,811 (31 Dec 90) nil Jaguar July 1984 125,000 owned by Ford nil5 BT November 1984 2,139,520 2,931,570 (1 Feb 92) 2,758,996 (26 Aug 92) 49.8 0.8/Dec 87: 25.9/ Nov9I British Gas December 1986 4,407,079 2,285,325 (31 Mar 91) 3.3 1.6/Jan90: 1.6/July 90 British Airways February 1987 1.2m 314,039 (15 May 90) 2.5 1.0/June87: 1.0/ March 90 Rolls-Royce May 1987 1,988,966 640,055 (31 Dec 90) 0.4 0.4 sold during 1987 BAA July 1987 2,187,500 798,643 (1 June 90) 4.36 1.42/Aug 90 British Steel December 1988 650,553 335,224 (30 Mar 91) 0.05 0.04 disposed of during 1989. On 12.11.90 HMG held about 0.002 Water and Sewerage Companies December 1989 2.65m6 l,106,5647 (27 June 91) 1.62 Regional Electricity Companies December 1990 8.86m6 2,975,1197 (7 Aug 92) n/a
Share Offer Year Advertising cost (ex. VAT) Water 1989 15.3 Regional Electricity Companies 1990 14.2 Generating Companies 1991 5.6 Scottish Electricity Companies 1991 5.3 BT 1991 17.1
§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total amount of debt written off in each privatisation and sale of Government assets since 1979 for each company privatised.
§ Mr. DorrellI refer the hon. Member to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's answer of 3 March,Official Report, col. 124.
§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current number of shareholdings in each of the companies privatised since 1979.
§ Mr. DorrellThe table shows the number of shareholdings in each of the companies privatised since 1979. Where Her Majesty's Government retained a shareholding on privatisation, together with the size and date of any subsequent share disposals, this has also been shown.
183W
Size of share register Company Date of Privatisation Initial Highest since Privatisation3 Current Proportion of shares retained by HMG percentage Proportion and dates of subsequent disposals percentage Generating Companies March 1991 1.91m8 1.7m7(Jan 92) 40 Scottish Electricity Companies June 1991 1.81m9 1.6m7(June 92) 3.5 1 For single company privatisations, these figures are not an exact guide to the number of shareholders because some shareholdings are held jointly in more than one name (e.g., for members of employee share schemes only the trustees are shown on share registers). 2 HM Government obtained a majority holding in 1914 but this never reached 100 per cent. The 1977 sale is shown as the first disposal of recent times. 3 Where the largest register of shareholdings was not immediately following privatisation (this usually followed a secondary offer). 4 These proportions do not sum to 51 per cent because of rights issues. 5 Subsidiary of BL plc. 6 The offer allowed for holdings by individuals in any or all of the companies in the offer and therefore holders may appear on more than one register. 7 Shareholders may appear on the register of more than one company. 8 The offer required pulic applicants to apply for shares in both companies and the figure shown is that of allocations in the offer. 9 The offer required non-customer public applicants to apply for shares in both companies and the figure shown is that of allocations in the offer.
§ Mr. Keith HillTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give a breakdown of administrative costs set out in a similar manner to that in his answer to the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) of 5 March,Official Report, column 244, for the share offers relating to (a) British Gas, (b) the electricity generating companies, (c) the electricity distribution companies, (d) the two Scottish electricity companies and (e) the water companies.
§ Mr. DorrellI refer the hon. Member to page 18 of the report by the National Audit Office on the sale of British Gas (House of Commons paper 22 published June 1987) and to the replies given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy on 31 January 1992 at column723; by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland on 31 January 1992 at column 722; and by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment on 3 April at column 570–71.