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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reasons were for the dismissal from BNFL last year of (a) Mr. John Taylor, (b) Mr. Ross Chiese, (c) Mr. David Coulston, (d) Mr. Roger Leek and (e) the non-executive directors; and what compensation terms they received. [149633] Mr. Hain: I understand that Messrs Taylor, Chiese, Coulston and Leek left the company by mutual agreement following a review of management conducted by the chairman of BNFL designed to ensure greater management focus, transparency and accountability. As part of that review, the chairman announced that he was looking to refresh and strengthen his team of non-executive directors in the light of the different future needs of the company. All six of his then non-executive directors have now left the company. As members of the BNFL board, payments to John Taylor and Ross Chiese are published in the company's annual report and accounts and are therefore a matter of public record. They received £300,000 and £270,000 compensation respectively for termination of their employment. David Coulston and Roger Leek were employees of the company, but not members of the board. As such, any compensation was entirely a matter between the company and those individuals. The departing non-executive directors were not entitled to compensation for loss of office.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

149633; 363 c281W

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Compensation Accountability Directors British Nuclear Fuels Dismissal Management Redundancy Termination of employment

Link

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