§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the elements of the £3.5 billion needed by Railtrack plc in administration, including that sum which was due to be paid to the company by the Government over that period under previous agreements. [19798]
§ Mr. ByersThe sum of £3.5 billion is the Administrator's current estimate of the maximum that would probably be required to meet pre-administration debts to 31 March 2002, including allowances for contingencies.
The figures are made up as follows:
£000 Pre-administration trade creditors 1,673,498 Finance parties principal, interest and lease payments 624,084 Working capital 811,000 General contingency 170,000 Insurance premium 9,000 Estimated value of subsidiary companies 31,500 Provision for utility companies 79,000 Losses on close-out of interest rates SWAPS 118,000 Purchase of Rail Grinding train 5,000 Professional fees 50,000 Maximum total estimated funding required to 31 March 2002 3,571,082 The Government have paid Railtrack all the moneys that were legally due to the company, and these are being used to meet day-to-day running costs.
438W
§ Dr. WhiteheadUnder the provisional local government finance settlement announced on 4 December, the fire standard spending assessment for the constituent local authorities of East Sussex Fire Authority will be increased by 4 per cent. from £21.646 million to £22.503 million for 2002–03. The figure has been calculated using the funding distribution formula that applies in respect of all fire authorities in England.