A string of public sector businesses, from the Met Office to the Oil and Pipeline Agency, the Royal Mint and the Ministry of Defence’s storage and distribution agency, could be put up for sale as the government seeks to boost by £5bn the £30bn efficiency cash savings that it had already announced.

The pre-Budget report says a review is being conducted by the Treasury and the Shareholder Executive, which holds the government’s stake in many of the businesses, into the potential for “alternative business models, commercialisation, new market opportunities and, where appropriate, alternatives to public ownership” for these and a range of other public sector businesses, including the Land Registry.