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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which projects and investments undertaken by Advantage West Midlands, including sale and leaseback, involving property and land (a) have incurred losses and (b) are projected to incur losses; and what the extent of those losses is. [198304] Jacqui Smith: In 2003-04 Advantage West Midlands (AWM) had in excess of 50 active projects where it held an investment or interest in land and property to assemble sites, overcome market failure and bring sites back into productive use, which the private sector would otherwise neglect. As a result of these projects, AWM incurred £16.2 million of revaluation losses and £12.9 million of revaluation profits; though, since AWM was able to account for this on a portfolio basis, this produced an audited net property loss of £3.3 million. AWM is not able to provide a breakdown of losses on individual projects, as this information is commercially sensitive. AWM values its property portfolio on an annual basis and is currently undertaking this exercise. Until this task is completed, AWM is unable to project potential revaluation losses for the current year. However, taking into account the fact that AWM now has to account for losses on an individual basis, rather than on portfolio basis, AWM has made a provision of £10 million to cover any valuation losses when they arise.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1298W;426 c1302W; 198304

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Land Investment Property Standards Regeneration Advantage West Midlands

Link

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