§ Mr. Cledwyn Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry why it takes up to 12 weeks to register a company, eight weeks to obtain approval for a name, and three weeks before documents lodged for filing are inserted on the file; what steps he is taking to reduce these long periods; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir G. HoweThe right hon. Member is not wholly correct. The present time taken to approve a proposed name is approximately five weeks; registration of an approved name takes approximately one week; the filing of documents takes two weeks.
The cause of these delays is the greatly increased flow of applications for incorporation; 120,000 applications were dealt 76W with in the first 25 weeks of this year, compared with 80,000 and 66,000 for the same periods in 1972 and 1971.
My Department is dealing with the problem by a combination of substantial increased staff, further mechanisation, and the use of computer systems.
§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the current delay in the Companies Registration Office between receipt of an application concerning the availability of a name for the registration of a proposed company, and the reply to that application being given; what was the approximate delay respectively one year ago and two years ago; and what action he is taking to eliminate the delay.
§ Sir G. HoweThe current delay in dealing with an application for clearance of a proposed name is approximately five weeks. A year ago it was 10 weeks and two years ago two weeks. Extra staff were repeatedly provided and trained during 1972. The results are evident above, and the situation continues to improve despite an increased receipt of applications. Further steps will be taken as necessary.