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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Auditing

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to restrict the number of quoted companies which a single audit firm can audit at the same time. [100903]

Miss Melanie Johnson: We have no plans to do so.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the auditors of the public bodies sponsored by her Department. [100904]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The auditors in 2001/2002 of the public bodies sponsored by DTI are listed in the Cabinet Office publication Public Bodies 2002. The same auditors will be used in 2002–2003.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will require the Auditing Practices Board to hold public hearings before setting any auditing standard. [100906]

Miss Melanie Johnson: No. The Report of the Review of the Regulatory Regime of the Accountancy Profession, published on 29 January, recommended that the Financial Reporting Council, of which the Auditing Practices Board (APB) is a subsidiary body, should improve arrangements for transparency including ensuring easy access to clear information about the purpose of the organisation, its place in the regulatory framework and its work programme and performance, and that this should extend to the publication of summary board minutes and papers. The APB already publishes the minutes of its meetings.

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Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will require UK companies to disclose reasons for setting up operation in offshore financial centres whose laws do not require them to publish audited accounts. [100911]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have no plans to do so. Companies are required to consolidate the activities of such vehicles in the UK parent's audited accounts if they are subsidiary undertakings.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to give audit committees of companies full access to the working papers of their auditors. [100912]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Auditors' conclusions should be shared in full with audit committees and with all company directors. Sir Robert Smith's review of the Combined Code Guidance, published on 20 January, clarifies and expands upon the existing guidance on the audit committee's role in reviewing the work of the auditor throughout the audit cycle. Copies of that report have been placed in the Libraries of the House. I have no plans to introduce a requirement on auditors to disclose all their working papers.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to require the auditors of public limited companies to file copies of the audit tender with a designated regulator. [100914]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have no plans to do so.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to ban auditing firms from selling off-balance sheet financing schemes to their audit clients. [100978]

Miss Melanie Johnson: There are no plans to introduce such a ban. The provision of non-audit services by auditors to their clients is covered in chapter 1 of the Final Report of the Coordinating Group on Audit and Accounting Issues, published on 29 January. Copies of the Report have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to give incoming auditors a right of access to the outgoing auditor's working papers. [100979]

Miss Melanie Johnson: We have no plans to do so.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will give the Financial Services Authority an unrestrained right of access to the working papers of auditors. [100980]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Financial Services Authority already has powers to obtain information from auditors.

Enron

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what inquiries her Department has made into the UK operations of Enron. [100756]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: Conduct reports pursuant to the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 have been received from the joint Administrators or joint Liquidators (all PriceWaterhouseCoopers) in Enron Europe Ltd. and 21 other subsidiary companies.

The Disqualification Unit of The Insolvency Service is making inquiries into those failures from the view-point of disqualification of the directors No decision as to whether disqualification proceedings are warranted has, however, been made.

EU Accountants

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many professional accountants there are in each member state of the European Union. [100902]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Figures are not available for accountants in general as there is no statutory requirement for them to be registered with a professional body.

Industrial Development Schemes

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many schemes under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 in each of the last six years have covered a specific geographical area within the UK. [102803]

Alan Johnson: 14 schemes cover or have covered regional or national areas over the last six years, as follows:


Schemes administered by the Small Business Service that are available only in

England:


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Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many schemes under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 in Scotland have been funded (a) wholly and (b) partly by her Department. [102801]

Alan Johnson: Seven UK wide programmes operating in Scotland over the last six years were funded wholly by my Department, as follows:


The Department and the Scottish Executive provided a joint package of support in 2001 to Atlantic Telecom's administrators to maintain a fixed wireless network for sufficient time to allow customers to switch to alternative suppliers.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many schemes in Scotland have been funded under section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 in each of the last six years. [102802]

Alan Johnson: The use of Section 8 for schemes in Scotland only is a matter for the Scottish Executive. Eight UK wide schemes available in Scotland have been funded by my Department, or by the former Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, over the last six years. Three other schemes have been funded by the Scottish Executive, one of them jointly with my Department. A number of the schemes were introduced more than six years ago. The schemes or single payments were:

Small Business Service:


Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions:


Regional Enterprise Grant Scheme:


Information about section 8 schemes and payments can be found in the annual reports laid before Parliament as required by the Industrial Development Act 1982. The most recent Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 2002 was published on 30 September

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2002 and is available in the Library of the House, and on the Stationery Office's website at: http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/deps/hc/hc1007/lQ07.pdf. The Report includes information on the individual section 8 schemes.

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