§ Mr. Chope:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all public corporations and in respect of each, the (a) rate of return on capital employed required by the Treasury and (b) sums paid in by each corporation to the Treasury in 2002–03. [141544]
§ Mr. Boateng:A list of public corporations has been deposited in the Library of the House.
The rate of return on capital employed that is required for an individual public corporation is set by the department that sponsors the body. Departments set this rate in accordance with guidance issued by the Treasury taking into account the type of activity engaged in and the market the body operates in.
For 2002–03 departmental resource accounts list the amount of dividends and interest payments from public corporations that were paid into the Consolidated Fund by departments.
Under the new budgeting regime announced as part of Spending Review 2002 (that came into effect from 1 April 2003) dividend and interest payments from 37W public corporations are no longer returned to the Consolidated Fund. They are retained by the sponsor department.