Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will break down the £31,400,000 for Royal Mail sale transaction costs in his Department’s Supplementary Estimates 2013-14.

Michael Fallon

The Supplementary Estimate included a Reserve Claim to cover the cost of managing and realising the Royal Mail pension assets in 2013-14 of c£31.4m. This is in line with the funding arrangement agreed with HM Treasury in May 2011, whereby costs over and above £50m funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) would be met by HM Treasury. These assets transferred to Government from the Royal Mail Pension Plan in April 2012.

The Supplementary Estimate also included a Reserve Claim to cover the total cost of the transaction estimated to be around £32.6m of which £9.2m is stamp duty, £13.1m underwriters and intermediaries commission fees, £4.2m underwriters’ discretionary fee which has not been paid, and the balance the direct retail cost.