To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Shareholder Executive as part of the Government’s Trading Fund Review in advance of the 2009 Budget. (263880)

As part of the Department’s Owners Advisory Council for each of its trading funds, Defence Ministers were briefed by a Shareholder Executive official on both the Trading Fund Assessment study, and on the Asset Management Strand of the Operational Efficiency Programme. I discussed the subject separately last November in a meeting attended by a Shareholder Executive official.