§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the restrictions on foreign ownership of shares in(a) British Aerospace and (b) Rolls-Royce. [2184]
§ Mr. BattleAt the time of the privatisations of British Aerospace (1985) and Rolls-Royce (1987), the Government imposed a foreign shareholding limit on both companies. Since 1989, that limit has been set at 29.5 per cent.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list the payments by the United Kingdom Government to(a) British Aerospace and (b) Rolls-Royce in each of the last five years, indicating in each case the reasons for the payments. [2185]
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§ Mr. BattleThe payments made by my Department to British Aerospace and Rolls Royce in the last five years were as follows.
Launch aid £ thousand Bae RR Payments Repayments Payments Repayments 1992–93 28,600 40,900 0 22,700 1993–94 0 29,400 0 16,600 1994–95 0 19,200 0 19,500 1995–96 0 29,300 0 13,200 1996–97 0 42,710 0 23,600 Launch aid is a repayable but risk-sharing Government investment in specific projects for the design and development of civil aircraft, helicopters and aeroengines in the UK. If the project proves successful HMG will receive repayment of its contribution plus a real rate of return.
Civil aircraft research and demonstration (CARAD) BAe RR 1992–93 1,749 *4,352 1993–94 1,539 *4,790 1994–95 1,361 5,402 1995–96 2,631 6,075 1996–97 2,224 4,609 CARAD ensures that essential aircraft technologies are available in the long term through an integrated national programme of research. It supports basic and applied pre-competitive research and technology demonstration. (Some of these payments are for extramural research managed by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and will include amounts paid by Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace to other research collaborators. An asterisk denotes estimated payments under the extramural programme managed by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.)
Innovation and technology support BAe RR 1992–93 733 470 1993–94 436 442 1994–95 308 647 1995–96 271 307 1996–97 93 163 These programmes encourage UK firms to undertake research and development in collaboration with others, including European partners and academia.
Other Departments, including MoD, may have made payments to these companies; this information is not held by my Department.