§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will give, for the longest and most convenient period of time, the total number of requests made to his Department for investigation to be made into public companies; in how many cases he agreed to take action and refused action, respectively; how long in each case it took him 265W to reach his decision; in how many cases, where he refused action on one or more occasions, he later agreed to investigations; and with what results in each case.
§ Mr. RidleyThe following table relates to the period since 1st January, 1970. Similar information for the years 1958–69 was supplied in an Answer given to the hon. Member on 18th February, 1970.
Applications or cases noted Inspectors appointed under Appointments relating to Cases in which appointments not made Year S.164 S.165(a)(i) S. 165(b) Public Companies Private Companies 1970 400 — — 15 3 12 385 1st January, 1971 to 31st March, 1971 86 — — 4 1 3 82 Notes:
1. Apart from these appointments the Department have conducted enquiries under Section 109 of the Companies Act 1967, as follows:
Public Private 1970 … 6 55 1st January, 1971 to 31st March, 1971 … 2 23 2. Column 5. Appointments were not made in these instances because either there was no case, or they were not proceeded with, or they were disposed of after discussion with the persons concerned, or the companies were wound up or enquiries were conducted under Section 109 of the Companies Act, 1967.
3. The average time taken in reaching a decision to take action in the case of public companies was two weeks.
4. In the case of one public company the appointment of inspectors was refused but enquiries were pursued under Section 109 of the Companies Act, 1967.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry why it takes so long for his Department to reply to letters from the general public and Members of Parliament on general matters, and requests for action on public companies allegedly contravening the Companies Act in particular; and whether he will ensure in future that there is no undue delay before initiating official investigations into companies who, on prima facie evidence, are guilty of illegal practices.
§ Mr. John DaviesA reply to any letter is sent as soon as is practicable. As regards requests for investigation of the affairs of companies, every effort is made to establish as quickly as the circumstances of each case allow whether there is ground for an investigation. If there is, an investigation is set on foot promptly.