§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has for requiring consumer guarantees to be enforceable beyond the life of the company issuing them.
§ Mr. LeighThe Government have no proposals for such legislation. The enforcement of long-term guarantees
408W(e) footwear, (f) motor-vehicle manufacturing and (g) mechanical engineering: to what extent this has resulted in an increase in capacity; what has been the increase in the demand for such goods; and whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing in each case the increase in capacity since 1979, the increase in output as a percentage of 1979 and the figures for import penetration from the EEC and the rest of the world now and in 1979.
§ Mr. LeighThe available information is shown in the tables: 1989 data are not yet available. Investment figures in real price terms are a matter for the Treasury. Statistics on capacity are not available.
was considered by the Director General of Fair Trading in his report on consumer guarantees (June 1986). The report makes a number of recommendations on good practice and indicates that the Office of Fair Trading will keep this matter under review to see whether voluntary initiatives by industry can bring about improvements.
409W
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has for making guarantees issued on goods sold a liability to be taken into account by the Official Receiver on liquidation.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe insolvency legislation—rule 13.12 of the insolvency rules 1986—already provides that contingent debts or liabilities that materialise after a company has gone into liquidation by reason of an obligation incurred before that date are provable claims in the proceedings. This in effect means that claims under valid guarantees are taken into account by the liquidator.