To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many contracts his Department has held with (a) UBS, (b) Barclays Capital, (c) Goldman Sachs, (d) Morgan Stanley, (e) Credit Suisse, (f) Merrill Lynch and (g) Lehman Brothers in the financial year 2008-09; what the monetary value was of each such contract; and for what purposes each contract was awarded. (261487)

The Shareholder Executive engaged UBS on three separate assignments—the sale of British Energy, the sale of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's sites and to advise the Shareholder Executive on the process for finding suitable partners for Royal Mail. These assignments were covered by two separate contracts, the values of which are commercially confidential on an individual basis but with the total value up to £15 million depending on success factors.

The Department also spent £135,175 with Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd in financial year 2008-09. These relate to salary costs for the secondment of Philip Remnant as Chairman of the Shareholder Executive.

The Department does not currently have any contracts with Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers and has not made any payments to them in 2008-09.