§ Mr. John GarrettTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which accountancy firms have been criticised in the Department of Trade and Industry's inspectors' reports on investigations into companies in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. MaudeTwo of the reports of inspectors appointed under the Companies Act that have been published since 1984 have contained criticisms of accountants. These were the reports of the investigations into the affairs of Milbury plc and into the affairs of The Greenbank Trust plc, both published in 1987 and in both of which the auditors of the company under investigation were the subject of criticisms by the inspectors.
North East North West Yorkshire and Humberside East Midlands South West West Midlands (a) Number of applications received between 1 April 1988 and 31 March 1989 294 434 238 27 106 571 (b) Number of applications processed between 1 April 1988 and 31 March 1989 273 438 240 32 97 608 (c) Total grant paid (£ million) between 1 April 1988 and 31 March 1989 33.6 22.0 21.1 1.0 5.0 24.1