§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the inspectors' reports which have been passed to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, with the date on which each report was passed to the institute.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe information requested is as follows, updating the reply I gave to the hon. Member on 3 July 1991,Official Report, column 160:
The inspections into British Anzani and Graylaw Holdings Ltd. were linked and cost information is only available for the combined investigation.
Company name Cost (£) Bryanston Finance Ltd. (now Ramor Investments Ltd.) 760,301 British Anzani plc 474,045 Graylaw Holdings Ltd. Blue Arrow plc 3,569,800 The Bestwood plc 2,709,446 BOM Holdings plc 1,185,343 Each of these reports is unpublished and it would be inappropriate for me to discuss details of them. Such reports are disclosed, where appropriate, under the Companies Act 1948, as amended, under part XIV of the Companies Act 1985, as amended, and under the Financial Services Act 1986.
§ Mr. Austiin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of his Department's inspectors' reports published since 1979 contain evidence of audit failures.
§ Mr. RedwoodI refer the hon. Member to replies I gave on 19 December 1989Official Report, column 138 and 139, 777W 21 February 1990 Official Report, column 789 and 26 October 1990 Official Report, column 328. Four inspectors' reports have since been published which contain criticism of auditing firms:
Name of company Date of publication Name of accountants Aldermanbury Trust plc 20 March 1991 Levy Gee South Diffusion plc 1 May 1991 Spicer and Peglar, Gibraltar Rotaprint plc 24 July 1991 Arthur Young Ernst and Whinney The Milford Docks Company 16 January 1992 Coopers and Lybrand