To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date he paid £103,974.92 to the account of Brims and Company Ltd., mentioned at item 5 in the third interim award of 16 October 1998 in the Greenhead A69 diversion arbitration. (129038)

Brims and Company Ltd. were contractors working on the A69 Greenhead diversion scheme. The company went into receivership in 1990. Receivers were appointed and an arbitration was brought against the Secretary of State. A settlement figure was agreed and ratified by the arbitrator in November 2002. This was a full and final settlement and explicitly included the payment of interest and costs. The agreed settlement figure was paid to Brims and Company Ltd. shortly thereafter. The settlement was enshrined in a consent award which attracts the confidentiality which is implicit in the arbitration process. The confidence is owed to the administrative receiver of Brims and Company Ltd.