§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement about his plans for use of the private finance initiative in respect of the National Savings agency; [17211]
(2) what plans he has to privatise the National Savings agency; [17210]
(3) for what reasons it is proposed to put National Savings agency functions out to tender under the private finance initiative. [17209]
§ Mrs. Angela KnightAs I said in my statement of 22 January 1997, there are no plans to privatise National Savings. Our plans are to make sure that National Savings 307W continues to provide cost-effective funding of the Government's debt through savings products which customers want.
National Savings is exploring whether private finance initiative options could assist the agency further, to become a more modern high-performance organisation, improving value for money for the taxpayer and the service offered to customers. No decisions have been taken about the scope of private sector involvement.