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Critical National Infrastructure: Ownership

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Whitty, dated September 2013.

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions concerning the breakdown of ownership by country of the major electricity supply companies [HL2126], major gas supply companies [HL21271, major water companies [HL2128], major

railway operators [HL2129], major companies in the ports sector [HL2130], major airlines [HL2131] and major telecommunication companies [HL2201] in the United Kingdom, as of the most recent figures available.

The attached spreadsheet shows a breakdown of ownership by country of the following Standard Industrial Classifications (SICs):

SIC Code SIC Description

35.1 Electric power generation, transmission and distribution

35.2 Manufacture of gas: distribution of gaseous fuels through mains

36 Water collection, treatment and supply

49.1 & 49.2 Passenger rail transport and freight rail transport

52.22 Service activities incidental to water transportation

51.1 Passenger air transport

61 Telecommunications

The link below provides further information on the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/classifications/current-standard-classifications/standard-industrial-classification/index.html

These data have been produced using an extract from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken at March 2012.

For the purposes of this response, “major” has been defined as enterprises with an employment figure of 250 or more. Also, in order to protect the confidentiality of businesses, the geographic breakdown has been grouped into three categories: United Kingdom, Europe and Rest of the World.

Count of major enterprises in specified industries broken down by country of ownership

SIC 35.1 - Electric power generation, transmission and distribution
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	8
Europe	7
Rest of the World	3
Total	18

SIC 35.2 - Manufacture of gas; distribution of gaseous fuels through mains
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	4
Total	13

SIC 36 - Water collection, treatment and supply
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	6
Europe	4
Rest of the World	3
Total	13

SIC 49.1 and 49.2 - Passenger rail transport and freight rail transport
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	14
Europe	6
Rest of the World	1
Total	21

SIC 52.22 - Service activities incidental to water transportation
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	10
Europe	4
Rest of the World	3
Total	17

SIC 51.1 - Passenger air transport
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	7
Europe	7
Rest of the World	7
Total	21

SIC 61 - Telecommunications
Country of ownership	Count of enterprises
UK	29
Europe	8
Rest of the World	11
Total	48

Footnotes:

These data have been produced using an extract from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDI3R) taken at March 2012.

In order to protect confidentiality the count of enterprises has been grouped into three categories: United Kingdom, Europe and Rest of the World.

Major has been defined as enterprises with an employment figure of 250 or more.

The link below provides further information on the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/classifications/current-standard-classifications/standard-industrial-classification/index.html

Source: Office for National Statistics

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL2128; 747 cc425-7WA

Session

2013-14

Related items

Critical National Infrastructure: Ownership
Monday, 22 July 2013
Oral answers to questions
House of Lords

Notes

Answer received between Tuesday 3 September and Monday 9 September 2013.

Subjects

Ownership Water companies

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk