§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Financial Reporting Council will have statutory powers to take companies to court for producing defective accounts; and what statutory arrangements are being proposed to deal with auditors who perform inadequate audits.
§ Mr. RedwoodI cannot prejudge the proposals that we have asked Sir Ron Dearing, chairman-designate of the Financial Reporting Council, to develop on the implementation of his committee's report on the making of accounting standards, including the revision of defective accounts. As regards statutory arrangements to deal with auditors who perform inadequate audits, I refer the hon. Member to part II of the Companies Act 1989.