§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what monitoring has been carried out by the insolvency service since receivers were called in to the Lumsden Machine Co., Gateshead; and whether the receiver has subcontracted work in the company back to enterprises in which the original beneficial owners of the company have an interest.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonMy Department's insolvency service has no power to intervene in the day to day conduct of receiverships and does not, therefore, monitor such cases on an individual basis.
In this case, officials have spoken to the receiver's office who have confirmd that one of the company's contracts which remained incomplete at the date of the receiver's appointment required a small amount of further work involving specialised equipment. The receiver has confirmed that he sub-contracted this work to an associated company, but the sub-contract was on a commercial basis and at a proper market price and enabled the expeditious completion of the contract for the benefit of the receivership.