§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what is the actual cost incurred to date by his Department meeting the obligation to provide pension incentives to eligible applicants under the pensioner priority offer for shares on the flotation of ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro-Electric; [20597]
(2) what estimate he originally made of the likely cost to his Department of the offer announced by him on 12 March 1991 making available to pensioners of ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro-Electric preferential arrangements and pension incentives on the public flotation of these companies; [20598]
(3) what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department as a result of the non-completion of the pensioner incentive section of the pensioner priority offer application form submitted by eligible pensioners of ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro-Electric; [20595]
(4) how many pensioners of ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro-Electric purchased shares in these companies by completing the pensioner priority offer application form; 645W and how many eligible applicants omitted to apply for the pensioner incentives. [20599]
§ Mr. Lang[holding answer 26 April 1995]: As part of the arrangements for the flotation of ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro-Electric, all employees and pensioners of the two Scottish electricity boards who applied for shares were given priority access to up to £15,350 worth of shares when the allocation of shares to applicants was made. Quite separately, all applicants were able to elect to receive bonus shares if they held the shares they had purchased for a specified period and met certain other criteria; 1,170,000 applicants did so. Apart from the initial priority allocation arrangement, therefore, there were no special incentives offered to electricity board pensioners.