Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total amount of debt(a) nominally and (b) in 1995–96 prices written off in each of the privatisations and sale of Government assets since 1979 for each company privatised. [36284]
§ Mr. JackI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) on 13 March, columns612–13. Since then, Railtrack has been successfully privatised. On that sale, £1,229 million originally allocated to Railtrack on vesting was written off and debt on commercial terms of £589 million injected—1995–96 prices. The revised total for debts written off is therefore £23.78 billion. Debts injected total £14.53 billion.
Mr. AinsworthTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will be the cumulative total privatisation receipts from 1979–80 to 1996–97 in 1995–96 prices. [36285]
§ Mr. JackThe cumulative total of privatisation proceeds from 1979–80 to 1995–96, in 1995–96 prices, was £81.3 billion. The Government's privatisation proceeds targets for 1996–97 is £4.5 billion.
Mr. AinsworthTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what have been the privatisation receipts since 1979–80 to date for each company privatised(a) cash and (b) at 1995–96 prices. [36283]
§ Mr. JackTable 5.6 of the public expenditure statistical analyses 1996–97 (HMSO Cm 3201) gives privatisation proceeds by sale in cash terms. The following table sets out annual proceeds in cash terms and in 1995–96 prices. It would not be possible to give current price proceeds on a sale-by-sale basis without incurring disproportionate cost.
229W
Privatisation proceeds (£ billion) Year Cash 1995–96 prices 1979–80 0.4 1.0 1980–81 0.2 0.5 1981–82 0.5 1.0 1982–83 0.5 0.8 1983–84 1.1 2.0 1984–85 2.1 3.4 1985–86 2.7 4.3 1986–87 4.5 6.9 1987–88 5.1 7.5 1988–89 7.1 9.7 1989–90 4.2 5.4 1990–91 5.3 6.4 1991–92 7.9 8.9 1992–93 8.2 8.8 1993–94 5.4 5.7 1994–95 6.4 6.6 1995–96 2.4 2.4 Total 64.0 81.3