FOIA Section 6

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, or

(b) it is wholly owned by any public authority listed in Schedule 1 other than—

(i) a government department, or

(ii) any authority which is listed only in relation to particular information.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a company is wholly owned by the Crown if it has no members except—

(i) Ministers of the Crown, government departments or companies wholly owned by the Crown, or

(ii) persons acting on behalf of Ministers of the Crown, government departments or companies wholly owned by the Crown, and

(b)a company is wholly owned by a public authority other than a government department if it has no members except— (i) that public authority or companies wholly owned by that public authority, or

(ii) persons acting on behalf of that public authority or of companies wholly owned by that public authority.

(3) In this section— “company” includes any body corporate; “Minister of the Crown” includes a Northern Ireland Minister.

Statutelaw.gov.uk.

This section makes some but not all companies in public ownership subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

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

Until recently, a company had to have at least two members, so a lot of publicly-owned companies have one share held on behalf of the parent authority by its chief executive or similar.

Companies wholly owned by the Crown

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Royal Mail Holdings plc (04074919) [holding company]
- Royal Mail Group Limited (04138203)
  - iRed Partnership Limited (06259932)
  - PostCap Guernsey Limited
  - Post Office Limited (02154540)
  - Royal Mail Estates Limited (05770587)
  - Royal Mail Investments Limited (03229377) [holding company]
    - General Logistics Systems B.V.

Ministry of Defence

Admiralty Holdings Limited (04561727) [holding company]
- SeaZone Solutions Limited (not on the main list) (04969561)
Admiralty Deutschland GmbH [holding company]
- SevenCs GmbH (not on the main list)
- ChartWorld GmbH (not on the main list)

Department for Transport

Directly Operated Railways Limited (06950819)
- East Coast Main Line Company Limited (not on the main list) (04659708)

HM Treasury

UK Financial Investments Limited (06720891)

Companies wholly owned by other schedule 1 authorities

Local government

Blackpool Borough Council

Blackpool Transport Services Limited (02003020)

Cardiff Council

Cardiff & Co Limited (06246680)
Cardiff Business Technology Centre Limited (02074331)
Cardiff City Transport Services Limited (06040752)

East Cambridgeshire District Council

East Cambridgeshire Business Centres Limited (not on the main list) (03819801)

Plymouth City Council

Plymouth Pavilions (06772949) [dormant]
Theatre Royal (Plymouth) Limited (01560651)

Reading Borough Council

Reading Transport Limited (02004963)

Rossendale Borough Council

Rossendale Transport Limited (02004970)

Warrington Borough Council

Warrington Borough Transport Limited (01990371)

Educational institutions

University of Cambridge

Cambridge Enterprise Limited (01069886)
Cambridge Investment Ltd. (06484697)
Cambridge Manufacturing Industry Links Limited [defunct?]
Cambridge Program for Industry (Australia) [incorporated in Australia]
Cambridge University Technical Services Limited (05749230)
The Challenge Fund Trading Company Limited (03878072)
Fitzwilliam Museum (Enterprises) Limited (01375977)
JBS Executive Education Limited (not on the main list) (05908393)
Lynxvale Limited (not on the main list) (02424721)

Cambridge Examinations, Inc. [incorporated in the USA]
Mill Wharf Limited (not on the main list) (02783745)
Oxford and Cambridge International Assessment Services Limited (01838486)
Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (02424721)
RSA Examinations Board (02808087)
Sandonian Properties Limited (02601758)
The West Midlands Examinations Board (01464835)

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]
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

Churchill Conferences Limited (not on the main list) (02843117)
Churchill Residences II Limited (not on the main list) (03800360)
The Møller Centre for Continuing Education Limited (not on the main list) (02746545)