HC Deb 07 July 2003 vol 408 cc567-8W
Dr. Cable

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many adverse reports required under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 have been received by her Department concerning the conduct of directors in each year since 1997. [122903]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The information is as follows:

Calendar Year IP Adverse Reports OR Adverse Reports Total
1997 3,280 2,576 5,856
1998 3,314 2,229 5,543
1999 3,422 2,140 5,562
2000 3,396 2,153 5,549
2001 3,186 2,074 5,260
2002 3,552 2,500 6,052

The above figures are the number of unfitted reports submitted by both Insolvency Practitioners (IP) and Official Receivers (OR).

Dr.Cable

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many disqualification orders have been made against directors under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 for a period of (a) two years and (b) more than two years in each year since 1997. [122904]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The figures for the number of disqualification orders and undertakings obtained by The Insolvency Service under section 6 of the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 are:

2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997
Two Years 74 100 122 122 114 128
More than Two Years 1,520 1,589 1,380 1,367 1,236 1,091
Total 1,594 1,689 1,502 1,489 1,350 1,219

Dr. Cable

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many disqualification undertakings have been received by her Department from company directors since 1 April 2001. [122909]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The information is as follows:

Undertakings
Period April 2001 to March 2002 1,213
Period April 2002 to March 2003 197
Total 2,685

Mr. Norman

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the Tyson Report on the Recruitment and Development of Non-Executive Directors; and if she will implement its recommendations. [122996]

Jacqui Smith

I am grateful to Laura Tyson and her group for her thought-provoking report. It shows the clear benefits for business of diversity at board level. It is vital for UK business that they look more widely for the best candidates. I also agree that it is important to monitor change and highlight best practice examples of building diverse and meritocratic boards.

I welcome the report's three recommendations:

1. Rigorous and transparent Non-Executive Director Selection Processes—This is being taken forward as part of the Financial Reporting Council's work on amending the Combined Code, following Derek Higgs' Review.

2. An initiative to bring together companies and training providers to establish guidelines to ensure that training programmes for directors are providing what is needed, and that useful information about such programmes is easily accessible on a timely basis.

3. An initiative to monitor both progress on achieving rigorous and transparent processes for NED appointments and progress on building more diverse boardrooms. I agree that it would be useful to monitor progress and disseminate best practice and we will be considering how best this should be done. But it is clear this is not the end of the story. We must see real results in broadening the talent pool of directors appointed to our boardrooms and we are also looking at what further work the government can do to help business achieve this.