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Business of the House

May we have a debate on Farepak, the Christmas savings scheme that collapsed with the result that for hundreds of thousands of hard-working families Christmas is, in effect, cancelled? Last week at a public meeting, I was told that the company had been in trouble last December, its shares crashed in August, a rival company tried to buy it but was rejected and, lastly, that it waited until the vast majority of people had paid in full. The investigation of the company’s directors and chief executive should not just be a matter for the Department for Trade and Industry; the serious fraud squad should be having a look at it, too.