To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the then Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and Regional Affairs was a party to the agreement between the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and Mapeley Steps Ltd (Bermuda) in April 2001 to sell buildings; and whether he received advice from officials with regard to (a) the contract and (b) where the purchaser company was based. [124866]

I have been asked to reply.The agreement for the transfer of buildings to Mapeley Steps Ltd. by the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise was signed by officials of those departments pursuant to a general authorisation to sign documents on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions in whom the majority of the Civil Estate is nominally vested.