§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what mechanism will be used to allocate the 5 per cent. stake in NATS to staff under the Government's proposals for the part-privatisation of the National Air Traffic Service. [3698]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Government, in conjunction with the Airline Group and NATS staff representatives are working together on the precise detail of the employee share scheme. In broad terms, the shares will be allocated via an Employee Share Ownership Plan, to be approved by the Inland Revenue, which will be administered by a new subsidiary of NATS called NATS Employee Sharetrust Limited. The directors of this new company will be appointed by the Government, the Airline Group and the NATS trade unions. A fundamental principle of the scheme will be that all employees, regardless of grade or length of service will have the same entitlement to shares from this scheme.
§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what meetings(a) Ministers and (b) officials have held in the last month with representatives of the airline consortium which is purchasing NATS. [3696]
§ Mr. JamiesonMinisters held a number of meetings with bidders for the National Air Traffic Services public-private partnership, including the Airline Group, as part of the bidding process. No meetings between Ministers and the Airline Group have taken place since the preferred bidder was selected.
Officials meet regularly with representatives of the Airline Group as part of the preparations for putting the PPP in place.