§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what reports other than the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers" have been commissioned by the European Commission in areas which might reasonably be expected to have an impact upon the detailed regulation of the United Kingdom's manufacturing and construction industries; if he will make it his policy in future to notify the House and industry of the commissioning of all such reports in future; and if he will make arrangements to ensure that British industry has the opportunity to be consulted in the preparation of all such reports.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe European Commission does not inform the United Kingdom Government of all the reports which it commissions.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has concerning the extent to which copies of the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers" are available in other member countries of the European Community; what consultation about the recommendations of the report has been undertaken with industry in those countries; and what preliminary conclusions have been reached by the European Commission on those recommendations.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe Commission has not officially released the report, although we understand that some 101W copies are in circulation. It is understood that the Commission has no plans at present to take forward the recommendations in the report.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade whether Her Majesty's Government were approached or consulted by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens during the research which they recently undertook and which led to the production of a principal report entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers".
§ Mr. HeseltineThe Office of Fair Trading and the Lord Chancellor's Department were approached during the research before the report was made.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the cost to the European Commission of the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers"; by whom, specifically, that report was commissioned; what is the status of that report; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe European Commission has not disclosed the cost of the report which it commissioned. The status of the report is that it is an unreleased confidential report made to the European Commission.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what plans he has to circulate copies of the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers" to the Confederation of British Industry, the National Association of Estate Agents, the Building Societies Association, the Building Employers Confederation, the Personal Investment Authority, the Law Society and all those financial services regulatory bodies whose members are involved in the provision of advice about lending in connection with immovable property purchase;
(2) pursuant to his answer of 22 March, Official Report, column 204, whether he now intends to make available to industry copies of the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled, "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers"; and if he will invite the comments of industry on the recommendations of that document;
(3) what plans he has to bring forward proposals to change the law in any of those areas which are his responsibility and which were included in the recommendations of the principal report by Wilde Sapte and Maclay Murray and Spens entitled "Information and Protection of Transactions concerning Immovable Property Purchased by Consumers".
§ Mr. HeseltineThe Government are not entitled to make public the contents of a confidential report which is the property of the European Commission.