§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the assets sold by his Ministry and their values, broken down by item, for each year from 1991–92 to 1998–99; and if he will estimate the value of assets sales planned to be made in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. [96224]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 28 October 1999]: The information is as follows:
Disposal of Fixed Assets
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 15 February 1999, Official Report, columns 574–75. The following additional information is available.
373WProperty Assets
A list of all properties sold since 1991, together with the income received, has been placed in the Library of the House.
Non Property Assets
The Ministry owns a high volume of relatively low value fixed assets, where fixed assets are defined as items costing in excess of £2,000 with a useful life in excess of one year.
A continuing programme of investment means items such as vehicles and IT equipment are renewed every 4 to 6 years. As a result, a number of life expired assets will be sold each year as new assets are purchased to replace them. Extracting information on these sales could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, information for the 1998–99 financial year is given in the following table:
Group Number items retired Cash received £ IT equipment 58 0 Vehicles 67 195,731 Office equipment 24 528 IT equipment and office equipment, by its nature, will have minimal value at the end of its life. Vehicles in the Private Use Car scheme are replaced every 4 years and are sold by auction.
Estimated Sales for 1999–2000 and 2000–01
Planned property sales over the next two years include the continued disposal of buffer depots and stores, together with the sale of redundant office space. A total of £20 million is expected in 1999–2000, of which £12 million has already been received. Sales revenue of £12 million is planned for 2000–01. These figures exclude the proposed sale of New Covent Garden as it is not yet possible to determine what the proceeds from this sale might be.
Non-property assets are expected to continue to turn over at a similar rate to the figures presented for 1998–99.