§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will introduce legislation requiring auditors who withdraw from an audit account to publish their reasons for doing so in the annual report.
§ Mr. RedmondI see no reason for doing so. Under section 394 of the Companies Act 1985, an auditor who resigns is required to deposit at the company's registered office a statement of any circumstances connected with his ceasing to hold office which he considers should be brought to the attention of members or creditors of the company or, if he considers that there are no such circumstances, a statement that there are none. The statement must be deposited along with the notice of resignation. If the statement is of circumstances which the auditor considers should be brought to the attention of members and creditors of the company, the company—unless the court rules that the auditor is using the statement to secure needless publicity for defamatory matter—must within 14 days of receiving the statement send a copy to every person entitled to receive copies of the accounts.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will introduce legislation prohibiting audit firms from offering cut-price audits or selling other audit services to audit clients who are bankers or financial institutions.
Regional selective assistance offered to firms in the food processing industries in the Northern region and Scotland 1 January 1980 to 31 December 1990 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Northern region Number of offers 3 1 3 3 2 1 1 3 3 4 3 Value of offers (£'000) 3,015 450 136 200 510 25 40 270 117 370 735 Scotland Number of offers 15 3 16 4 4 6 3 10 1 8 4 Value of offers (£'000) 479 168 575 590 326 975 1,160 1,867 95 4,636 3,215 Note: Based on offers accepted.
Regional development grant under the revised scheme paid to firms in the food processing industries in the Northern region and Scotland 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1990 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Northern region Number of firms 6 19 34 44 37 15 Value of payments (£'000) 270 332 502 703 984 618 Scotland Number of firms 11 49 65 67 44 18 Value of payments (£'000) 151 1,245 1,033 1,113 1,524 1,676