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Treasury

Answer

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the amount of debt written off by the Government for each industry privatised since 1980. [135906] Mr. Andrew Smith: The table shows the amount of debt written off for each industry privatised since 1980. Where relevant the table also shows the type of debt concerned and the amount of debt injected. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Debt written off Debt injected Industry Year £ million Type of Debt Year £ million British Steel 1980-81 509.3 National Loans Fund -- -- British Aerospace 1980-81 60 Public Dividend -- -- Capital National Freight 1980-81 100 National Loans Fund -- -- Corporation{1} British Airways 1980-81 160 Public Dividend -- -- Capital British Transport Docks 1982-83 81.3 National Loans Fund 1982-83 25 Board{2} British Telecommunications 1984-85 2,789.9 National Loans Fund 1984-85 3,500 British Gas -- -- -- 1986-87 2,500 BAA 1986-87 43.5 National Loans Fund -- -- British Steel 1988-89 500 Public Dividend -- -- Capital British Steel 1988-89 3,480 Borrowing under -- -- Iron and Steel Act 1982 Harland and Wolff 1989-90 422.5 Assistance under -- -- Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 Short Brothers 1989-90 390 Loan by DED -- -- Water companies 1989-90 4,973.3 National Loans Fund 1989-90 72.9 Water companies 1989-90 55 Public Works Loan -- -- Board Electricity (England and -- -- -- 1990-91 3,583 Wales) Electricity (Scotland){3} 1991-92 1,043.6 National Loans Fund 1991-92 625.9 NTL -- -- -- 1991-92 22 Northern Ireland -- -- -- 1993-94 70.3 Electricity Belfast Airport -- -- -- 1994-95 15.2 British Coal 1994-95 1,633.4 Voted Loans -- -- Railtrack 1995-96 1,229 National Loans Fund 1996-97 585 Total 17,470.8 10,999.3 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Privatised as National Freight Consortium (now NFC). {2} Privatised as Associated British Ports Holdings. {3} Prior to privatisation, National Loans Fund Debt due to the South of Scotland Electricity Board nuclear programme of £1,368.4 million was transferred to Scottish Nuclear Ltd. and subsequently written off. {4} In the case of the privatisation of British Energy, on 5 June 1996, it was agreed that, of the £1,745 million of debt to Government created as the result of the reorganisation of the nuclear power generating industry prior to the privatisation, £600 million would be converted into a new debt owed to Government, £700 million converted into 700 million shares with a face value of £1, and £445 million would be written off.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

355 c606W; 135906

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Debts written off Industry Privatisation

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk