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4 May 2006 : Column 1746W—continued
Unfair Dismissal Claims
15. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of unfair dismissal claims which were upheld by an industrial tribunal resulted in reinstatement of the claimant in each of the last four years. [67738]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The percentage of unfair dismissal claims upheld by an Employment Tribunal which resulted in an order for reinstatement in each of the last four years ranges consistently from 0.1 to 0.2 per cent. of cases.
Sunday Trading
16. Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to change Sunday trading laws. [67739]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given earlier today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry).
Gas Storage
17. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will review the arrangements for gas storage in the UK. [67740]
Malcolm Wicks:
Some 10 new commercially-funded gas storage facilities are under development; subject to regulatory consents, they could more than double GB's gas storage capacity by 2012.
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The Government are pursuing a number of initiatives to improve the regulatory framework in order to facilitate new gas storage facilities.
Business Bankruptcies
18. Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many small businesses in England went bankrupt in 2004–05. [67741]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not currently possible to identify the size of business in the official bankruptcy statistics published by the Insolvency Service.
Arms Trade Treaty
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the (a) Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (b) Ministry of Defence and (c) Department for International Development regarding the Arms Trade Treaty; and if he will make a statement. [67834]
Malcolm Wicks: Given my responsibilities for export control, I am fully engaged in the Government's policy, led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, of securing support for an international Arms Trade Treaty.
Assisted Area Status
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at what stage his Department's consultation on which areas will be covered by assistedarea status is; and what representations he has received in favour of maintaining the status quo in Merseyside. [67603]
Alun Michael: On 15 February 2006, the Department for Trade and Industry invited responses to the first stage of the Assisted Area Review by 19 April. These responses are currently being assessed and the government's response to the first stage of the consultation will be published this summer when stage 2 is launched. We received a total of 203 written replies within the deadline and almost all addressed the extent to which Merseyside and South Yorkshire should be covered.
Business Regulations
Mrs. Dorries : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department is taking to reduce the burden of regulation on UK businesses. [67731]
Barry Gardiner: The Department has published a draft Simplification Plan which sets out our programme for reducing the burden of regulation on UK business. It delivers more than £l billion in regulatory savings for business by 2010. We will be updating and improving on this shortly.
Central and Eastern Europe
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the level of the UK's international trade with Central and Eastern Europe was in 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [67736]
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Ian Pearson: UK trade in goods and services with Central and Eastern Europe in 2004 was over £15billion, more than double the 1997 figure. From 2004 to 2005 there was a further 8 per cent. increase in trade in goods.
Coal Pension Properties Ltd
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) direct and (b) indirect communication his Department has had with Coal Pension Properties Ltd. in the last five years. [66680]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department has no record of any communication with Coal Pension Properties Ltd.
Companies' Business Reviews
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Government will announce the findings of its consultation on the proposed content of companies' business reviews. [67492]
Alun Michael [holding answer 2 May 2006]: Yesterday we laid amendments to Chapter 6, Part 15 of the Bill in order to give effect to changes to the content of companies' business reviews. As part of our proposals, we also intend to clarify the position on liability for disclosures under the Companies Act and for implementation of the EU Transparency Obligations Directive. Draft clauses on a proposed regime for liability have been published via the DTI website (at http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/facts/clr.htm) for a short period for public comment. This package of proposals represents consistent and balanced policy after considering carefully the responses to the consultation and engaging in discussion with interested parties on the whole range of options for narrative reporting.
The requirements for narrative reporting have been streamlined so that the requirements for quoted companies are closely aligned to those for unquoted companies. The proposed new narrative reporting arrangements include the requirement that all companies will need to produce a business review, as required by the EU Accounts Modernisation Directive. The amendments make clear that the purpose of the review is to inform shareholders of the company and help them assess how the directors have performed their duty under section 156 (duty to promote the success of the company). Quoted companies will need to ensure that, to the extent necessary for an understanding of the development, performance or position of the company's business, their business review includes:
(a) the main trends and factors likely to affect the future development, performance and position of the company's business; and
(ii) the company's employees, and (iii) social and community issues, including information about any policies of the company in relation to those matters and the effectiveness of those policies.
Directors will need to state in their Review if they do not think it necessary to include information about (i), (ii) or (iii) above.
The new system will also mean that for all companies:
Auditors will continue to be required to report on the consistency of the directors' report with the annual accounts (as is required by the Accounts Modernisation Directive) but there will not be any additional requirement to check for other inconsistencies;
All companies will be exempted from disclosing in the business review information which is seriously prejudicial to the company's interests. This exemption was previously only provided for companies that had to produce an OFR; and
The draft clauses on liability cover:
Provision for liability under Part 15 of the Bill for directors' reports, directors' remuneration reports or summary financial statements derived from them;
Liability for untrue or misleading statements or omissions made in bad faith or recklessly or where there is deliberate and dishonest concealment.
The Government's aim has always been to encourage meaningful strategic, forward-looking information to assist shareholder engagement, while avoiding disproportionate burdens on business. The Government have decided that the additional burden imposed by the statutory OFR requirement is not justified in light of the competitiveness of UK businesses. The changes to narrative reporting requirements announced yesterday will add value to the quality of reporting without imposing unnecessary costs.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his plans are for bringing forward proposals to Chapter 6, Part 15 of the Company Law Reform Bill. [67594]
Alun Michael [holding answer 2 May 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to my response to his parliamentary question number 67492 answered today.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when his Department will publish the proposed new Table A of the Company Law Reform Bill. [68089]
Alun Michael [holding answer 3 May 2006]: The Company Law Reform Bill contains a power to enable my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State through secondary legislation, to prescribe, stand-alone model articles for different types of company. The model articles are to replace the Companies Act 1985 Table A for companies formed under the Bill and we intend to make sure that regulations made under this power will be in place by the time that the Bill comes into force.
A draft of the model articles for private companies limited by shares, and draft guidance notes on those model articles, was published in the March 2005 White Paper and we will shortly publish a draft of the model articles for public companies. We will then turn to the draft model articles for private companies limited by guarantee.
We look forward to receiving comments on the draft model articles for public companies and are working with interested parties to make sure that the final versions of the various model articles are both useful
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and relevant to people who rely on the model articles: the owners and managers of companies. There will be full public consultation before regulations are made.
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