§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will seek to amend paragraph 2(a) of section 390 of the Companies Act 1985 to require that the auditor's notice of resignation, if accompanied by a statement of circumstances, be addressed to members, creditors and employees.
§ Mr. RedwoodI assume that the hon. Gentleman has in mind the statement of circumstances mentioned in section 394 of the Companies Act 1985, which has been inserted into that Act, in substitution for section 390, by section 123 of the Companies Act 1989.
I have no plans for further legislation on these matters. Section 394 provides that the statement must be sent to the registrar of companies. If the statement concerns matters which the auditor considers should be brought to the attention of members or creditors of the company, then it must also—subject to provisions enabling the company to challenge such a statement in the courts—be sent to every person entitled under section 238 of the Companies Act 1985 to be sent copies of the accounts. These provisions enable appropriate publicity to be given to an auditor's statement.