§ Mr. Hanleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has yet reached conclusions on the studies announced into hiving-off the companies registration offices and the Patent Office.
§ Mr. TebbitYes. I have decided not to proceed with proposals to transfer the work of companies registration offices to a quango and they will remain answerable to me as Secretary of State and will continue to be part of my Department. Since 1979 there has been an increase of almost one third in the number of companies registerd by the Companies Registration Offices. The priority given to this work has led to an increase in delays in providing information to the public and difficulties in pursuing registered companies in default of their obligations to submit regular returns and accounts. In order to improve the service to the public and the pursuit of non-conforming companies, the number of staff in these offices will be increased by 100 over the coming months. I am also undertaking an examination of the functions and operations of the CRO offices, and work analysis studies to improve the efficiency of their operations.
The future of the Patent Office will be further reviewed in the contect of consideration of the Green Paper on "Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation".