§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many complaints his Department has received concerning pyramid selling schemes; how many of the complaints were upheld; and how many companies were prosecuted under part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973, for each year from 1973 to 1992.
§ Mr. Leigh[holding answer 3 July 1992]: My Department gets thousands of complaints about pyramid selling schemes, but the vast majority are on the mistaken assumption that such schemes are all illegal. The information requested on prosecutions under part XI of' the Fair Trading Act 1973 is not available. To the best of my knowledge. my Department has prosecuted two companies and individuals. These prosecutions, which related to a single scheme, were in 1987.