§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list those public corporations that will be evaluated for possible changes in fiscal rules; and when such changes are likely to be announced. [48760]
§ Mr. Geoffrey RobinsonThe public corporations included in section 3.4 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report (published 11 June) under the paragraph headed "Additional flexibility for large public corporations, which are not dependent on government grants, to put them on a more commercial footing" are the Post Office, British Nuclear Fuels Limited, National Air Traffic Services, the Commonwealth Development Corporation, the Royal Mint, the Tote, the Crown Estate Office and Channel 4 Television. Compared with the regime for public corporations in departmental expenditure limits, these largely self-funding public corporations will have more flexibilities to manage their spending between years, within agreed limits on external finance from 1999–2000.
The way of measuring the impact of these public corporations on the fiscal aggregates is unchanged.