Treasury written question – answered at on 8 November 2010.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the merits of the sale of (a) British Waterways, (b) the Dartford Crossing, (c) the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency, (d) High Speed 1, (e) the Land Registry, (f) the Met Office, (g) NATS, (h) NHS Professionals, (i) the Oil and Pipelines Agency-Government Pipeline and Storage System, (j) Ordnance Survey, (k) Public Forest Estate England, (l) Public Sector Spectrum Holdings, (m) The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, (n) The Royal Mint, (o) the Student Loans Portfolio, (p) The Tote, (q) Trust Ports, (r) URENCO, (s) the Royal Mail, (t) the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum and (u) other public sector parts of the spectrum suitable for mobile communication purposes.
Following an assessment, the Government have already made announcements regarding some of the assets outlined, some at the June Budget, and others at the spending review. By way of example, we have launched a full sale of High Speed 1 and introduced enabling legislation for Royal Mail. Decisions will be taken on NATS, the Student Loan Book and the Tote by Budget 2011.
The Government assesses their holdings of assets on an ongoing basis, including all of the ones on the list. For commercial reasons we would not want to speculate on decisions the Government might reach with regards to any particular asset, as a result of our assessments.
If the Government were to decide to pursue a transaction on any of these assets, an announcement would be made at an appropriate opportunity.
Yes2 people think so
No3 people think not
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