A £36 billion drive to plug gaps in the public finances through asset sales has been undermined, with almost all government departments failing to come up with proposals so far, or claiming that they have little that can be privatised.

The Chancellor said in October in the Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review statement that each department had been asked to detail assets that could go under the hammer to raise cash to increase spending power and cut public debt. At the time a spokesman for the Treasury said that details of the sell-off would be published within days.

Aside from the Treasury itself, so far only four of a total of 21 departments have reported back: the Department For International Development (DFID); the Ministry of Defence; the Cabinet Office; and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

In its response, DFID said that “given the limited size of the asset base, there are no significant surplus assets”. The DWP said that it “does not have plans for material levels of asset disposal during the 2007 CSR period”. The main contribution from the Cabinet Office is a move to dispose of its 53 Parliament Street buidling.

The slow progress comes with Government finances under strain. Alistair Darling is looking increasingly as though he will overshoot his forecast of £38 billion in total public sector borrowing for the year to April 5, 2008 – £4 billion more than Mr Brown predicted in his final Budget last March.

Latest official figures showed that net public sector borrowing totalled £11.2 billion in November, compared with the £7.3 billion shortfall racked up in the same month the year before.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury initally conceded that there had been delays in the disposal project, but later she said that “there is not really a delay: departments are gradually releasing their plans, just not all in one fell swoop.” She said that reports from all departments should be published over the next few weeks.

The Government had been hoping to raise about £12 billion from the sell-offs, which are part of a wider privatisation drive to raise £36 billion by 2011.

A total of £18.3 billion has already been raised towards the £36 billion target, with a further £6 billion of funds identified in the form of a sell-off of part of the student loan book.

Separately, to meet its target, the Government has been looking at bigger sales including a £2 billion partial privatisation of CDC, the government-owned fund that pioneered venture capital investment in Britain’s former colonies, and a sell-off of the Tote betting organisation. Nuclear assets, including the State’s one-third stake in Urenco, the uranium enrichment company, and the UK Atomic Energy Authority, have also been targeted for sales.

Some of these already look to have hit the buffers because of factors including the current difficult market conditions, which have depressed some asset prices.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax