§ Dr. CableTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what guidelines are issued to(a) the Meteorological Office, (b) Companies House and (c) the Ordnance Survey to ensure that they engage in only fair competition with private information providers who are also their customers. [26707]
§ Mr. Ian McCartneyThe Meteorological Office is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Defence. The Ordnance Survey is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Companies House is statutorily obliged to make information on companies, submitted to it under the provisions of the Companies Act, available to all who seek it. It does so through the offer of a range of products and services which are available to all, but which include some of particular benefit to private information providers and some equally appropriate to the needs of individual searchers.
Companies House is guided by its Framework Document, by the annual business plan that is submitted to and approved by Ministers, and by a range of other specific or generic guidelines issued to it as an Executive Agency.