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Compliance rates for annual returns and accounts, 1984 to 1993
Thousands of companies
Percentage of companies on effective register
Companies
up-to-date in
filing:
Effective regCompliant Default Compliant Compliant for In default for
both both
register annual returns annual returns accounts returns and returns and
accounts accounts
|(thousands) |(thousands) |(percentage)|(thousands) |(percentage)|(thousands) |(percentage)|(thousands) |(percentage)|(thousands) |(percentage)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
England and Wales
May 1985 |810 |544 |67.1 |266 |32.9 |518 |63.9 |471 |58.1 |- |41.9
June 1986 |785 |692 |88.2 |93 |11.8 |663 |84.4 |623 |79.4 |- |20.6
June 1987 |824 |731 |88.8 |93 |11.2 |699 |84.9 |665 |80.7 |- |19.3
June 1988 |872 |775 |88.8 |97 |11.2 |742 |85.1 |697 |79.9 |- |20.1
June 1989 |936 |817 |87.3 |119 |12.7 |787 |84.1 |734 |78.4 |- |21.6
June 1990 |964 |868 |90.0 |96 |10.0 |827 |85.7 |784 |81.3 |- |18.7
June 1991 |931 |799 |85.8 |132 |14.2 |802 |86.1 |725 |77.9 |- |22.1
June 1992 |921 |825 |89.6 |96 |10.4 |844 |91.6 |781 |84.8 |- |15.2
June 1993 |900 |821 |91.2 |79 |8.8 |848 |94.2 |792 |88.0 |- |12.0
Convictions by the Department under the
Companies Act 1985-93
(inclusive)
|Directors|Companies
|convicted|involved
----------------------------------------
1985 |1,699 |775
1986 |1,694 |899
1987 |1,628 |927
1988 |1,448 |1,016
1989 |1,269 |956
1990 |1,245 |1,005
1991 |1,581 |1,284
1992 |1,549 |1,080
1993 |1,897 |1,168
Companies removed from
the registers, 1985 to
1993
|Number
------------------------
1985 |51,100
1986 |95,500
1987 |74,300
1988 |67,200
1989 |103,000
1990 |82,726
1991 |95,886
1992 |128,760
1993 |108,798
Pennine Commercial Holdings
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when the inspectors to inquire into the affairs of Pennine Commercial Holdings were appointed ; when the inquiry was completed ; what are the business connections of the inspectors ; whether any of them came from the accountancy firms criticised in any DTI inspectors'
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reports ; what is the cost of the investigation and how it has been disbursed to each inspector ; what reports so far have been published ; and when he will publish the final reports.Mr. Neil Hamilton : Elizabeth Appleby QC and Peter Wilfred Foss FCA of Moores Rowland were appointed inspectors of Pennine Commercial Holdings plc on 4 October 1983 under the provisions of Section 165(1) (b) of the Companies Act 1948 (now section 432 of the Companies Act 1985). The inspectors have not been criticised in any DTI inspection report. The inspectors are reviewing their interim report on Pennine Commercial Holdings with a view to submitting a final report following the conclusion of criminal proceedings. When the completed report is submitted, publication will be considered. The cost of the investigation to date is £384,000 of which £35,000 relates to the legal inspector, and the balance to Mr. Foss's firm.
Inspectors' Reports
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when his Department started sending copies of the DTI inspectors' reports to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England ; and what were the reasons for the decision to do so.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : I refer the hon. Member to my letter to him of 28 October 1992. It has long been the practice to send copies of published reports to the institute in appropriate cases. Section 449(1)(L) of the Companies Act 1985 introduced the ability to pass to the Institute copies of reports prior to publication. The first such disclosure was in 1988.
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Auditors
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if partners from the auditing firm criticised in the DTI inspectors' reports on Sound Diffusion, Rotaprint, Alexander Howden, Edencorp, Milbury and WMD Underwriting agencies are present on the Auditing Practices Board or its working parties.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : The constitution of the Auditing Practices Board is a matter for the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will introduce legislation under which auditors would owe a duty of care to individual creditors ;
(2) if he will introduce legislation under which auditors would owe a duty of care to individual shareholders.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : I have no plans to do so.
Al Saudi Banque
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what legislative proposals he has for the reversal of the 1989 Al Saudi Banque judgment.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : I have no such proposals.
Chile (Alcohol Trade)
Mrs. Ewing : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what details are available of the annual value of Chilean wine imported into the United Kingdom ; and what is the annual value of the Scotch whisky exported to Chile.
Mr. Needham : Information on the annual value of wine imported into the United Kingdom from Chile is available from 1988 onwards. The annual 1993 value of imports into the United Kingdom was £7.4 million. Information on the annual value of Scotch whisky exported to Chile is not identified separately from exports of Irish whiskey in the United Kingdom trade classification.
HEALTH
Temazepam
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total net ingredient cost of the drug temazepam in each NHS region and family health services authority area in 1991-92 and 1992-93, and for the six-month period 1 April 1993 to 1 October 1993 ; and if she will express these figures as an expenditure per head of population.
Dr. Mawhinney : The available information will be placed in the Library.
Information prior to October 1991 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Hospital Closures
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 8 March, Official Report, column 165, if she will list by region hospital closures which have been contested by community health councils in each year since 1988.
Mr. Sackville : The following known hospital closures were initially contested by community health councils and
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remained contested throughout the consultation period. More detailed information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Hospital closures which have been contested in this way since 1988 are as :Region--
Northern :
Ponteland and Lemington Hospitals, Newcastle
Yorkshire :
Grove Hospital, Ilkley
Brandesburton Long Stay, Hull
Trent :
Balderton Hospital, Newark
Scarsdale Hospital, Chesterfield
East Anglian :
Newmarket Hospital, Suffolk
North West Thames :
Clapham Hospital
South Middlesex Hospital
Westminster Hospital
West London Hospital
Westminster Children's Hospital
St. Mary Abbots Hospital
St. Stephens Hospital
North East Thames :
Rush Green Hospital
South East Thames :
Sydenham Children's Hospital
South West Thames :
St. James' Hospital
Wessex :
None
Oxford :
Iver Cottage Hospital, Berkshire
South Western :
Almondsbury Hospital, Almondsbury
Standish Hospital, Stonehouse
West Midlands :
Mill Street Hospital, Kidderminster
Birmingham Accident Hospital
Mersey :
St. Paul's Eye Hospital, Liverpool
North Western :
Whittingham Hospital, Preston
Drugs
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for Health in respect of which named drugs she has asked in the period since 1 April 1993 family health services authorities, general practitioners fundholders and general practitioners generally to review their prescription practices.
Dr. Mawhinney : Family health services authorities are responsible for working with general practitioners to improve the cost effectiveness of prescribing. It is for local decision whether the use of particular categories of drugs is targeted for review depending on local prescribing patterns.
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Regional Health Authorities
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many (a) first or second in line managers and (b) medical consultants who were employed by regional health authorities at the time she announced her decision to reduce the number of regions from 14 to eight have been moved, or will move later this year, to other posts in the NHS on protected salaries ;
(2) for each of the 14 regional health authorities, how many (a) first and second in line managers and (b) medical consultants have (i) been appointed to a post in one of the eight merged regions, (ii) been appointed to a newly created post with a district health authority, (iii) been appointed to a previously established but vacant post with a district health authority, (iv) obtained employment outside the NHS and (v) become or expect in April 1994 to become unemployed.
Dr. Mawhinney : All employees of the 12 existing regional health authorities which are affected by mergers on 1 April 1994 will transfer to six new regional health authorities with effect from that date. Employees' employment rights will be protected by the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE).
Appointments to posts in the new regional health authorities and in district health authorities, and the terms of those appointments, are matters for the employing authority.
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Health for each of the 14 regional health authorities, how much money has been set aside for (a) redundancy or severance pay and for paying for early retirements and (b) for paying protected salaries in the forthcoming year, to employees who will lose their job as a result of the merger of regional health authorities.
Dr. Mawhinney : Questions of redundancy will be determined by the level of staffing identified as being needed to carry out the functions of national health service central management. This will depend upon the analysis of functions carried out in the NHS and the allocation of functions across the new structure. It is not therefore possible at this stage to estimate the cost of implementing the proposals to streamline NHS central management.
Cognex
Mr. Murphy : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made to make available Cognex--Tacrine--to United Kingdom patients.
Mr. Sackville : Cognex--Tacrine--is not currently licensed to the United Kingdom. However, under the Medicines Act doctors have clinical freedom to treat particular named patients with unlicensed medicines.
Emphysema
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research her Department has conducted or commissioned into the number of work-related incidences of chronic emphysema that have occurred since 1979.
Dr. Mawhinney : None. However, the Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid from my
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right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, spent £1,097,000 in 1992-93 on research into the respiratory system, some of which may be of relevance to emphysema.Generic Prescribing
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her policy towards generic prescribing.
Dr. Mawhinney : Successive Governments have encouraged the use of generic drugs where these are available and clinically appropriate.
Nurses and Midwives
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish details of the whole-time equivalent numbers of (a) agency and (b) bank nursing and midwifery staff employed in the NHS for each year since 1987.
Mr. Sackville : The information available is shown in the table.
Bank and agency nursing and midwifery staff-England at 30 September each year Whole-time equivalents Year |Bank |Agency ---------------------------- 1987 |4,920 |6,130 1988 |5,830 |6,240 1989 |5,910 |7,230 1990 |6,230 |6,710 1991 |8,540 |3,930 1992 |10,020|3,230 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
The increase in bank nurses and midwives together with the corresponding decrease in agency nurses and midwives reflects the more widespread flexible working arrangements in the NHS for nurses and midwives.
Malaysian Airlines
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the dates Ministers, or officials from her Department, including her Department's agencies, have used the Malaysian airline MAS for each year since 1985 including this year to date on official business ; and what was the cost of each flight to her Department.
Mr. Sackville : Since 1 April 1993 no Minister or official from the Department of Health has used the Malaysia airline MAS on official business. Prior to that date information is not available.
Oral Health Strategy
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Health when her Department is expecting to produce an oral health strategy ; and if she will make a statement.
Dr. Mawhinney : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. Wardell) on 18 February at column 1042.
Prescription Medicines
Mr. Alexander : To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Eltham (Mr. Bottomley) of 4 March, Official Report ,
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column 917 , what has been the annual rate of growth of the price index for national health service medicines since 1978.Dr. Mawhinney : A single price index is not available for all national health service medicines. The annual rate of growth of the price index for family health services medicines since 1977-78 has been about 2.5 per cent.
Pollution
Mr. Harvey : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of known environmental carcinogens she estimates result from vehicle emissions.
Mr. Sackville : The known environmental carcinogens produced by vehicle exhaust emissions are benzene ; 1, 3-butadiene ; and some polyaromatic hydrocarbons--PAHs--.
The expert panel on air quality standards--EPAQS--which advises my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has reported estimates that 87 per cent. of benzene emissions to the atmosphere are derived from vehicle exhausts. Benzene is classified by the International Agency for Research in Cancer--IARC--as a known human carcinogen. There are other sources of benzene to which people are exposed such as the diet, water and cigarette smoke. The panel has estimated that an urban non-smoker would take in between 61 per cent. and 80 per cent. of daily exposure from inhaled air. Other than local leaks from industrial plants, vehicle exhaust emissions are the only source of 1, 3-butadiene in the atmosphere. IARC has classified this compound as a probable human carcinogen. The quality of urban air review group--QUARG--which advises my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has estimated that 14 per cent. of the emissions to the atmosphere of PAHs derive from vehicle exhausts. IARC has classified some PAHs as probable human carcinogens, some as possible human carcinogens, and others, it has not classified.
The classification of carcinogens by IARC is widely accepted and is based on an assessment of the available research findings. Only where this includes human studies are chemicals classified as a known human carcinogen.
The reports of EPAQS and QUARG are available in the Library.
NHS Supplies Authority
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage target the NHS Supplies Authority has set for annual purchasing saving.
Mr. Sackville : At least 4 per cent. of the total aggregate value of all contracts negotiated for national health service customers within the year.
Inward Investment
Mr. Alexander : To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public money has been spent to date on the commissioning of a management consultancy to draw up a strategic plan to attract inward investment from United States and Japanese pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies ; and what is the total budget allocation for the project.
Mr. Sackville : Consultancy support in drawing up an inward investment strategy has been commissioned at a
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cost of £25,000. The budget for implementing the strategy will be determined when the initial stage has been completed.High Blood Pressure
Dr. Marek : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to enable patients who require treatment for high blood pressure to use public swimming pools free of charge.
Drugs Companies
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of the annual saving to the NHS arising from drug companies supplying certain drugs free to hospitals for each of the last five years ; what assessment she has made of this practice for the health service ; and if she will make a statement.
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