HC Deb 20 March 2003 vol 401 cc908-9W
Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the average change was in the value of portfolio holdings held by the Court of Protection for minors, over the last four years. [103168]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The Public Guardianship Office (PGO), is the administrative arm of the Court of Protection. It does not maintain detailed historic records of individual investment portfolios. Individual clients' investments are managed by private fund managers—either a panel broker under contract with the PGO, or of the clients' choosing. Brokers hold individual records but do not distinguish between minors and clients.

It could be expected that on average, investment return from equity markets would have been broadly similar to that of the market generally. Over the past four years, the FTSE All Share Index fell from 2825.39 (end of February 1999) to 1731.50 (end of February 2003), a decline of 39 per cent. The performance of individual cases varies according to investments held.

All of the minors have a proportion of their funds retained in the Special Account, a cash deposit account operated by the Court Funds Office, which pays a favourable rate of interest, currently 6 per cent.