§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 9 July 2003,Official Report, column 867W, in which companies the Government holds special shares; what the value is of those special shares; and which departments are responsible for them. [125849]
§ Mr. BoatengResponsibility for individual special shares lies with the relevant Secretary of State, as set out in the table. It is not possible to estimate the value of these shareholdings, which are not tradable.
463W
Company Secretary of State Rosyth Royal Dockyard Ltd. Defence Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd. Defence QinetiQ Holdings Ltd. Defence BAES (Marine) Ltd. Defence AWE plc Defence BAE Systems plc Trade and Industry Rolls Royce plc Trade and Industry British Energy plc Trade and Industry/Scotland UK Nirex Ltd. Trade and Industry Consignia Holdings plc Trade and Industry National Grid Transco plc Trade and Industry Scottish Power plc Scotland Scottish & Southern Energy plc Scotland Viridian Group plc Northern Ireland Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd. Northern Ireland Belfast International Airport Ltd. Northern Ireland British Airport Authority plc Transport National Air Traffic Services Ltd. Transport London and Continental Railways Ltd. Transport Eurostar Ltd. Transport Intercapita & Regional Rail Ltd. Transport Stena Line plc Transport CDC Group plc DfiD Partnerships UK Ltd. Treasury Troika Ltd. Treasury
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his plans for disposing of the Government's golden shares. [125832]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Government hold special shares in 25 companies. Of these companies, HM Treasury is responsible for special shares in Troika Ltd. and Partnerships UK Ltd. Each Department responsible for individual special shares is examining the ECJ's judgments carefully, to ensure that its special shares comply with EC law and continue to be in the public interest. The outcome will depend on the detail of each individual special share.