§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much of his Department's assets have been disposed of during each of the last five years; what valuation the Government puts upon his Department's assets; and if he will list his Department's assets, broken down by(a) the Department of Trade and Industry (Core Department) (b) agencies, (c) trading funds, (d) non-departmental public bodies, (e) research councils, (f) public corporations, (g) the Office of Fair Trading, (h) the Office of Telecommunications, (i) the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets and (j) the Export Credit Guarantee Department. [103603]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 21 December 1999]: (a) During the 1998–99 financial year tangible fixed assets comprising land and buildings to the value of £8,475,000 were disposed of. Information for the preceding four financial years is not available in the form requested.
The value of assets held by the Department of Trade and Industry (core department) as at 31 March 1999 is set out in the following tables:
£000 Fixed Assets—Tangibles Land and Buildings 21,568 Office Machinery 235 Computer Equipment 3,079 Scientific Equipment 14,775 Telecommunication Equipment 70 Furniture, Fixtures and Fittings 3,127 Plant and Machinery 343 Total 43,197 Fixed Assets—Investments British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme Investment Reserve 1,059,000 Mineworkers Pension Scheme Investment Reserve 713,000 Ordinary Shares 32,668 Public Dividend Capital 72,214 Launch Investment 1,206,700 Loans to Trading Funds 6,237 Loans to Industry 5,160 Total 3,094,979 376W
(i) Ofgas: As at 31 March 1999 (fixed asset, operating lease) Land and buildings Office equipment Computer equipment Laboratory Fixture and fittings Motor vehicle London consolidation Total Cost b/f 1,790,109 367,818 329,284 454,962 395,560 — — 3,337,733 1999 Additions 43,957 — 518 — 48,496 13,865 1,823,472 1,930,308 Disposals -140,000 -2,826 — — — — — -142,826 Revaluation — — — — — — — — Indexation 183,407 11,680 0 0 48,869 458 — 244,414 Cost c/f 1,877,473 376,672 329,802 454,962 492,925 14,323 1,823,472 5,369,629
£000 Current Assets Debtors 338,658 Short-term Investments 1,663,000 Cash at Bank and in hand 410,831 Total 1,663,000
(b)-(f) The net book value of assets held by ACAS on 31 March 1999 was £1,975,000, consisting of computer and office equipment, furniture, fixtures and fittings. Information on the assets of the Department's agencies, including its trading funds, of its larger executive NDPBs (those employing 25 staff or more, which are the Research Councils, the Gas Consumer Council, the National Consumer Council, the Design Council, the Coal Authority, the UKAEA, and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (replaced by the Competition Commission on 1 April 1999)), and of the Post Office, BNFL and British Shipbuilders, can be found in their annual reports and accounts for 1998–99. These are available in the Library of the House.(g) As at 31 March 1999 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) considered the net book value of its assets to be £4.7 million. This was made up of IT hardware and software (£2.3 million), furniture and fittings (£0.1 million) and assets under construction (£2.3 million). All of the OFT's IT hardware assets have either been replaced or upgraded over the last five years. All redundant hardware was disposed of at nil value, having been depreciated out. There has been no significant disposal of furniture over the period. The OFT had no holdings of land or buildings over the period.(h) Within the last year, Oftel modernised its run-down accommodation and office equipment. Most furniture and IT has been replaced or upgraded. Over the last four years, receipts for asset disposals were as follows:
Year £ 1995–96 2,316 1996–97 1,853 1997–98 150 1998–99 1,370 Note:
Only figures for the last four years are available
The draft resource accounts (unaudited) for 1998–99 show Oftel's net book value of assets as £979,000 including computer, other office and telephone equipment. Oftel's assets are recorded in the National Asset Register published by HM Treasury in November 1997.377W
(i) Offer: as at 31 March 1999 (extract from 1998–99 resource account) £000 Gross replacement cost@31 March 1999 Net book value@31 March 1999 Computer Pool 334 201 Computers 431 260 Furniture, Office Equipment Pool 233 127 Furniture and Office Equipment 200 157 Official Vehicles 98 83 Total 1,296 828
(i) Ofgas: As at 31 March 1999 (fixed asset, operating lease) Land and buildings Office equipment Computer equipment Laboratory Fixture and fittings Motor vehicle London consolidation Total Depreciation b/f 66,169 176,474 238,443 284,183 290,586 0 0 1,055,855 Charge for the year 73,383 73,564 65,960 90,992 88,811 2,773 911,736 1,307,199 Disposals -5,600 -565 — — — — — -6,165 Revaluation 7,336 2,336 0 0 9,774 92 0 19,538 Depreciation c/f 141,268 251,808 304,403 375,175 389,171 2,865 911,736 2,376,426 NBV-1/4/99 1,736,205 124,863 25,399 79,786 103,754 11,459 911,736 2,993,202 NBV-1/4/98 1,723,940 191,344 90,841 170,779 104,974 0 0 2,281,878
(j) ECGD has made no material disposal of property over the period. However, the nature of its operation means that it has disposed of the following assets over the period:
- (a) Debt Sales: Since 1992 the Paris Club has been encouraging creditors to sell or convert a portion of their rescheduled debt. By the end of 1995–96 ECGD had successfully converted approximately £70 million of debts owed to it by Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania and in 1996–97 seven sales involving Nigerian and Tanzanian debt, to the value of £20 million, were concluded. No sales were made in 1997–98 and 1998–99. (Source: Annual Report and Trading Accounts 1995–96 to 1998–99)
- b) Forgiveness of Unrecovered Claims: Forgiveness of unrecovered claims for the last five financial years is as follows:
Year £ million 1994–95 450.2 1995–96 14.6 1996–97 118.9 1997–98 115.6 1998–99 11.3 Source:
1998–99 Annual Report and Trading Accounts—Treatment of Forgiveness of Sovereign Debt