FOIA Section 6

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For Scotland, see FOISA Section 6 - Wholly owned companies
6. Publicly-owned companies.
(1) A company is a “publicly-owned company” for the purposes of section 3(1)(b) if—
(a) it is wholly owned by the Crown,
(b) it is wholly owned by the wider public sector, or
(c) it is wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector.
(2)For the purposes of this section—
(a) a company is wholly owned by the Crown if, and only if, every member is a person falling within sub-paragraph (i) or (ii)—
(i) a Minister of the Crown, government department or company wholly owned by the Crown, or
(ii) a person acting on behalf of a Minister of the Crown, government department or company wholly owned by the Crown,
(b) a company is wholly owned by the wider public sector if, and only if, every member is a person falling within sub-paragraph (i) or (ii)—
(i) a relevant public authority or a company wholly owned by the wider public sector, or
(ii) a person acting on behalf of a relevant public authority or of a company wholly owned by the wider public sector, and
(c) a company is wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector if, and only if, condition A, B or C is met.
(2A) In subsection (2)(c)—
(a) condition A is met if—
(i) at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii),
(ii) at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(b)(i) or (ii), and
(iii) every member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii),
(b) condition B is met if—
(i) at least one member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii),
(ii) at least one member is a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector, and
(iii) every member is a person falling within subsection (2)(a)(i) or (ii) or (b)(i) or (ii) or a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector, and
(c) condition C is met if every member is a company wholly owned by the Crown and the wider public sector.
(3) In this section—
“company” includes any body corporate;
“Minister of the Crown” includes a Northern Ireland Minister;
“relevant public authority” means any public authority listed in Schedule 1 other than—
(a) a government department, or
(b) any authority which is listed only in relation to particular information.
Statutelaw.gov.uk, as amended.

This definition is hugely tangled, but in essence it makes a company a public authority if it is owned (directly or indirectly) entirely by Schedule 1 public authorities (none of whom are ones listed only in respect of particular information) and/or by Ministers of the Crown.

The definitions of "wholly owned" here are substantially the same as the definitions of "wholly-owned subsidiary" in the Companies Acts.

There are various sources of company membership information.

A lot of publicly-owned companies have one share held on behalf of the parent authority by its chief executive or similar.

Various companies wholly owned by the Crown are deemed not to be publicly-owned companies for the purposes of section 3(1)(b), including:

  • Bradford & Bingley plc (03938288) and subsidiaries (art. 41, SI 2008/2546)
  • NRAM plc (03273685) and subsidiaries (art. 18, SI 2008/432)
  • VIrgin Money plc (06952311) and group undertakings (art. 19, SI 2009/3226) (no longer wholly owned by the Treasury)
  • NRAM (No. 1) Limited (09655526) and group undertakings (art. 8, SI 2016/114({{#formlink:form=Legislation|link text=add|query string=Legislation[Type]=uksi&Legislation[Year]=2016&Legislation[Number]=114}}))

By virtue of the definition of "relevant", subsidiaries of schedule I authorities that are only listed in respect of particular information are not public authorities themselves.

Companies wholly owned by the Crown

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Ministry of Defence

Department of Energy and Climate Change

Department for Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department of Health

Home Office

Department for International Development

Department for Regional Development (NI)

Department for Transport

HM Treasury

Northern Ireland

Companies wholly owned by the wider public sector

General

Welsh Assembly Government

Local government

Blackpool Borough Council

Cambridgeshire County Council

Cardiff Council

Central Bedfordshire Council

Devon County Council

  • NPS South West Limited (06078903) [jointly with NPS Property Consultants Limited] [2011 annual return]

Derry City and Strabane District Council

East Cambridgeshire District Council

Enfield Borough Council

  • Enfield Norse Limited (06833446) [jointly with Norse Commercial Services Limited]

Essex Fire Authority

Halton Borough Council

Ipswich Borough Council

Manchester City Council

Newport Council

Norfolk County Council

North Yorkshire County Council

Northamptonshire County Council

Plymouth City Council

Reading Borough Council

Rossendale Borough Council

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Suffolk Coastal District Council

Transport for London

TfL has a useful list of subsidiaries here.

Warrington Borough Council

Waveney District Council

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

York City Council

Educational institutions

Bangor University

Guildford College

  • Guildford Consultancy and Training Limited (02802189) [dormant]
  • Guildford Direct Limited (04089913) [dormant]
  • Merrist Wood Enterprises Limited (03192400)

University of Cambridge

  • Cambridge Archive Editions Limited (03164415)
  • Cambridge Global Grid for Learning Limited (04691393)
  • Cambridge Knowledge (China) Limited [incorporated in Hong Kong]
  • Cambridge Printing Services Limited (05846590)
  • Cambridge University Press (Greece) EPE [incorporated in Greece]
  • Cambridge University Press (Holdings) Limited (04606950) [holding company]
  • Cambridge University Press Japan KK [incorporated in Japan]
  • Cambridge University Press South Africa (Proprietary) Limited [incorporated in South Africa]
  • Editorial Edicambridge Cia Ltda [incorporated in Ecuador]
  • ELT Trading SA DE CV [incorporated in Mexico]
  • United Publishers Services Limited [incorporated in Hong Kong]

Christ's College, Cambridge

  • Christ's College Enterprises Limited (04751229)

Churchill College, Cambridge

Downing College, Cambridge

  • Downing Cambridge Conferences Limited (06199733)
  • Downing College Developments Limited (03698474)

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

University of Durham

University of East London

Leeds City College

University of Manchester

Oxford and Cherwell Valley College

University of Oxford

University of Warwick

Other: general

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

Civil Aviation Authority

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

UK Sport

Companies worth investigating

  • Welwyn Hatfield Leisure Limited (IP29635R)
  • Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (06498947)
    • Members are Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing, and National Voices.
    "The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) was established in April 2008 to promote quality in healthcare, and in particular to increase the impact that clinical audit has on healthcare quality in England and Wales. It is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and National Voices (formerly the Long-term Conditions Alliance)."[18]
  • Environmental Trust Scheme Regulatory Body (03221000)
  • Local Government Association
    • Is it even a body corporate?
  • GeoPlace LLC (OC359627) jointly owned by Improvement and Development Agency for Local Goverment and Ordnance Survey Limited
  • Improvement and Development Agency for Local Goverment (03675577) [members appointed by LGA]

Companies not covered

Obviously, it would be silly to list every company that's not publicly owned here. This is for companies that look like they might be publicly owned, but turn out not to be.

ICO Lines To Take

Relevant Lines to Take
  • LTT73 - BBC America & BBC Worldwide - status - 10/11/2007
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