§ Mr. ChidgeyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what monitoring she has instigated concerning whether undertakings received from providers of funeral services following recommendations by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission(a) have been and (b) have not been carried out; and what further action she intends to take to ensure that such undertakings are carried out. [16704]
§ Mr. Nigel Griffiths[holding answer 19 November 1997]: Following the MMC's report on the acquisition by Service Corporation International (SCI) of Plantsbrook Group plc, SCI gave an undertaking on 18 December 1996 to divest individual funeral directors' businesses in 10 specified localities, together with undertakings about the future conduct of its business. SCI sold the funeral directors' businesses on 4 April 1997. On 3 November 1997, I accepted a variation to the undertakings given by SCI to allow it to acquire Birkbeck Securities Ltd. (Birkbeck) on condition that SCI disposed of the funeral directing business of Birkbeck's subsidiary, H. Copeland and Son Ltd. within six months. That business has now been sold by SCI.
The task of monitoring the continuing behavioural undertakings is a matter for the Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT). His duties in this respect are set out in Section 88(4) of the Fair Trading Act 1973. He is under a duty to advise Ministers if it appears to him that an undertaking has not been, or is not being fulfilled.
It is now about one year since the undertakings were given by SCI. I understand that the DGFT is not aware of any evidence that SCI is failing to comply with the undertakings. However, his officials will shortly be undertaking a review of the situation in order to verify that the undertakings are being carried out.
§ Mr. ChidgeyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what statistics her Department collates on the ownership and company status of funeral director companies and their subsidiaries; and if she will make a statement. [18742]
§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsThe Department does not collect such information.
The statistical information collected by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) on service sectors such as funeral direction does not cover the level of detail requested. The larger firms in the sector are required to report financial information to Companies House but 340W many smaller firms in the sector do not have to do so. A number of funeral directors are also likely to be beneath the VAT threshold.