§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish a table showing for each year since 1980 the number of reports under the Companies Acts completed, the number published after completion and the cost of such investigations, showing separately the costs of those reports published from the costs of reports not published.
§ Mr. Redwood[holding answer 16 July 1990]: Following is the information:
647W
Completed reports Published final reports Published interim reports Unpublished final reports Unpublished interim reports 1980 14 4 2 8 0 Costs £000 575 3575 — — — 1981 10 6 0 3 1 Costs £000 1,218 1,218 — — — 1982 2 0 1 1 0 Costs £000 — — — — — 1983 3 0 0 3 0 Costs £000 — — — — — 1984 2 0 1 1 0 Costs £000 1149 — 149 — — 1985 5 2 1 1 1 Costs £000 1400 — — 400 — 1986 5 0 1 4 0 Costs £000 1184 — — 1184 — 1987 7 3 0 4 0 Costs £000 3,153 21,259 — 31,894 — 1988 7 4 0 1 2 Costs £000 41,875 41,875 — — — 1989 7 1 0 3 3 Costs £000 41,588 1,088 — 3500 — 1990 1 0 0 1 0 Costs £000 11,243 — — 1,243 — Notes:
1Costs of investigations to interim report stage are not readily available.
2The cost of investigations by Departmental officers and in one case by outside inspectors is not readily available. The number of reports completed each year for which cost of investigations are available is shown in brackets after the cost.
3The decision whether to publish 13 of the unpublished reports completed since 1985 remains under consideration.
4Reports were not necessarily published in the same year they were completed.