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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list those investigations currently being carried out by her Department under the Companies Act, Financial Services Act and Insurance Companies Act legislation, indicating the cost of each investigation, the manner in which the costs are being apportioned between inspectors and the likely date of publication. [4821] Mr. Nigel Griffiths: [holding answer 25 June 1997]: The Department carries out a number of enquiries under the Companies, Financial Services and Insurance Companies Acts, most of which are confidential. There are currently five Companies Act inspectors which were publicly announced. The information requested by the hon. Member in respect of these is as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Company Inspectors Accountant inspector's Legal inspector's costs Total costs of costs (including support (including support staff inspection to date staff and VAT) £(000) and VAT) £(000) (including disbursements) £(000) Guinness plc Mr. D. Donaldson QC 2,469 660 3,137 Mr. I. Watt FCA Wace UK Holdings Limited \ Mr. A. Robertshaw -- -- 15 Tinsley Robor plc / Mr. C. Mayhew (both European Colour plc departmental officers{1}) Mirror Group Newspapers plc Sir R. J. L. Thomas 6,718 1,650 8,368 Mr. R. Turner FCA Chancery plc Mr. R. Chandler ACA 622 -- 622 Mr. A. Fausett (departmental officer{1}) Queens Moat Houses plc Mr. P. Phillips QC 2,487 907 3,396 {}{}Mr. A. Burn FCA _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Excludes departmental staff costs. A decision on publication cannot be made before inspectors submit their report.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

4821; 297 c268W

Session

1997-98

Subjects

Company investigations Guinness Mirror Group Newspapers Queens Moat Houses European Colour Tinsley Robor Wace UK Holdings Chancery Division