New Statesman Scotland
Gordon Brown has been so chuffed at raising more than £22bn from the auction of a tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum space owned by the state that he has invited every department to see if it has dormant assets that could raise juicy sums.
It is doubtful he can stumble upon sleeping assets comparable to those fought over by the telecoms bidders. However, Charles Leadbeater, one of those strange gurus of the left whose prescriptions always seem to favour free markets, says that the various government databases could be rented or sold for tasty sums. For example, he argues, the information stored by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre in Swansea is rich in data for which the motor industry would pay generously. It took the department 20 years to appreciate that a market in car registration plates could harvest revenues.
The Office of National Statistics and even the Meteorological Office are mooted as departments rich in locked-away information, but which would regard sales as far too vulgar.
Madsen Pirie, the keeper of the free-market flame at the Adam Smith Institute, says his team has calculated that £100m could be found sleeping under the mortmain of the state. If the Treasury could auction off these "weightless assets", it could offer lower taxes in time for next autumn's election.
What has the Scottish Office got? Its only notable asset, despite the apparatus of the Edinburgh parliament and devolution, is the Forestry Commission. The single owner of the greatest acreage across the UK has never succeeded in making a profit since it was set up in 1916. Yet the nation's forests may be too tangible for the vogue to hunt out "unseen assets". BBC Scotland has more spectrum space than the Home Office sold off in April.
Suggestions can be sent directly to Mr Brown at the Treasury.
Quadstone, the Scottish data analysis company, is evading the London Stock Exchange and seeking a listing on Nasdaq, the US technology stock market. Neil Heywood, the chief executive, and Mark Smith, the marketing director, are seeking a sum of £300m at flotation.
The market debut is timed for September when New York market-makers are back from their holidays. Quadstone offers rarified but highly valuable glimpses into the shopping habits of any company's customers. The information has allowed their clients to boost sales to a degree that has surprised all of them. The Edinburgh firm might offer itself as a consultant to the Labour Party after its bruising electoral mishaps.
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