HC Deb 09 March 2004 vol 418 cc1421-2W
Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of company voluntary agreements. [159165]

Mr. Sutcliffe

The company voluntary arrangement procedure was introduced in 1986 and allows a financially troubled company to reach a binding agreement with its creditors to pay them in full or in part over a period of time. However, the recession of the early 1990s showed it was not particularly effective for the small financially troubled company because there was no stay on creditors' actions in the period before an arrangement could be agreed. Therefore, in 2000, this Government introduced the option of a short stay on creditors' rights, into that procedure, to give the company's management a breathing space in which to put a rescue plan to creditors. Other technical amendments were also made to improve the procedure's efficiency and effectiveness.

Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in how many company voluntary agreements creditors received monies owed in each year since 2000. [159166]

Mr. Sutcliffe

We do not record statistical data which would provide this information.

Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many company voluntary agreements were entered into in each year since 2000. [159167]

Mr. Sutcliffe

In the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively 557, 597, 651 and 726 company voluntary arrangements were entered into.

Mr. Simmonds

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies have entered into company voluntary agreements and have continued trading in each year since 2000. [159168]

Mr. Sutcliffe

In the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively 557, 597, 651 and 726 companies entered into voluntary arrangements but we do not record statistical data, which would reveal how many of them continued trading once the arrangements had been agreed.