Ordnance Survey (Hansard, 20 June 2002)

§ Mrs. Helen Clark
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister further to the reply of the Under-Secretary of 21 January 2002,Official Report, column 572W, if he will announce the outcome of the review of the implications for the National Interest Mapping Service Agreement with the Ordnance Survey of the Ordnance Survey's decision in May 2001 to change to colour photography. [60686]

§ Mr. McNulty
The NIMSA review group comprising officials from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ordnance Survey has yet to conclude its review of the impact on National Interest Mapping Service Agreement (NIMSA) payments to Ordnance Survey on the decision to move to aerial colour photography. The result of this review will be reported within NIMSA annual reports.

§ Mrs. Helen Clark
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is on cross-subsidy from public funds for the Ordnance Survey imagery layer business. [60687]

§ Mr. McNulty
As a trading fund, Ordnance Survey earns its revenue principally from the licensing of its products and the provision of a small number of services. In addition it earns revenue from the National Interest Mapping Service Agreement (NIMSA) which focuses on the provision of national mapping services that would otherwise be uneconomic.
The Government, and Ordnance Survey, will ensure that there is no cross-subsidy from public funds to support Ordnance Survey's imagery layer products.

§ Mrs. Helen Clark
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the National Interest Mapping Service Agreement funding makes(a) a direct and (b) an indirect contribution to the commercial activities of Ordnance Survey. [60685]

§ Mr. McNulty
As a trading fund, Ordnance Survey is required to deliver a return on capital employed in its activities. Currently the target is to achieve an average of 9 per cent. return over the first five years of the fund, April 1999 to March 2004.
493W
The National Interest Mapping Service Agreement (NIMSA) is an important part of Ordnance Survey's revenue and enables it to undertake uneconomic activities that a purely commercially focused Ordnance Survey could not justify. The NIMSA review group, comprising officials from my Department and from Ordnance Survey takes great care to ensure that NIMSA funds solely support these uneconomic activities.