§ Dr. CableTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the number of financial advisers who are operating without professional indemnity insurance. [113223]
§ Ruth KellyThe FSA tell me that, as at 6 May 2003, 1,741 out of 2,674 (65 per cent.) of IFAs (whose PII expired between 1 September 2002 and 30 April 2003) have told the FSA that they have obtained cover.
An analysis of the information they provided shows that 94 per cent, of IFAs due to renew their cover in September have done so. The figure for October is 96 per cent., November 87 per cent., December 75 per cent., January 62 per cent., February 63 per cent., March 34 per cent., and April 13 per cent.
This does not necessarily mean that the other IFAs have not got cover. IFAs are reluctant to confirm that they have cover until they have received a cover note 375W even though they may have agreed terms with their broker. This means that there is usually a gap between the expiry of an IFA's PII policy and the receipt of confirmation that the policy has been renewed, by the FSA. The FSA are contacting the remaining firms to establish their position.