§ Dr. CableTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in which companies the Government retains a golden share; and on how many occasions in the last year the Secretary of State has exercised his right to intervene in respect of each of these companies. [110543]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government currently retain a special share in the following companies:
- Cable and Wireless plc
- Stena Line Ltd.
- British Aerospace plc
- Rolls-Royce plc
- VSEL Ltd.
- BAA plc
- Belfast International Airport Ltd.
- Viridian Group plc
- Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd.
- National Grid Group plc
- BG plc
- National Power plc
- PowerGen plc
- Scottish Power plc
- Scottish and Southern Energy plc
- British Energy plc
- British Energy Generation Ltd.
- British Energy Generation (UK) Ltd.
- Rosyth Royal Dockyard
- Devonport Royal Dockyard
- UK Nirex Ltd.
- London and Continental Railways Ltd.
- Eurostar (UK) Ltd.
- Inter-Capital and Regional Rail Ltd.
- CDC Group plc.
The powers of the various special shares are not identical, but none of them enable Ministers to "intervene" in the day-to-day running of the companies. I believe that there have been only three cases (Ministerial consents to company restructuring, requested by BG plc, Cable and Wireless plc and ScottishPower plc) in the last year when Ministers have exercised their powers as owners of special shares. However, in the time available, it has not been possible to establish conclusively that these are the only cases.