§ Mr. Spriggsasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will indicate the details of companies registered in the St. Helens parliamentary constituency which have currently failed to file their returns to the Registrar of Companies; whether such companies have breached the Act on previous occasions; what steps his Department has taken to enforce compliance with Section 124 and 126 of the Companies Act 1948; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisThe information requested in the first part of the Question could not be obtained except at inordinate expense. Companies in default are systematically pursued by a computerised process of reminder letters leading, according to circumstances, to their directors being prosecuted or the companies 251W being struck off. During 1975, 2,440 prosecutions were instituted and, in addition, 28,000 companies which failed in any way to respond to reminders were struck off the register.