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521065

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Audit: EU Law
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the Government is not proceeding with joint auditing or increased tendering in its transposition of EU Regulation No. 537/2014 on statutory auditing of public-interest entities.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	38137
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2016 answer text <p>The Government does intend to implement provisions relating to increased tendering as part of the implementation of the EU Audit Regulation and Directive. This is in line with the recommendations of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).</p><p>The Government’s implementation of the EU Audit Directive and Regulation will include measures to require regular tendering of auditor appointments. Under implementing regulations currently laid before Parliament, all companies that are banks, building societies or insurers, or which have securities admitted to a regulated market, will be required regularly to subject their audit engagement to tendering. The maximum duration of an audit engagement will be limited to 20 years (currently there is no maximum duration). This will be introduced on a phased basis with some longstanding engagements given a further 4 or 7 financial years after the regulations come into force before they must be brought to an end and tendered to new auditors.</p><p>The provision on joint audit in the EU Regulation would act as an exemption from having to retender with the frequency envisaged by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Government consulted on the implementation of the Audit Directive including this option, and concluded the option should not be taken up.</p><p>Joint audit is not a practice followed in the UK, though it is expressly permitted by the Companies Act and legislation on some other entities. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has consulted on whether to take up this derogation. In response to our discussion document in December 2014 on auditor regulation, only 4 of 25 respondents supported its implementation.</p><p>It is unclear that increased joint audit would encourage competition. The option in the EU Regulation could result in prolonged audit engagements (up to 24 years) and fewer changes in auditor. This would be contrary to the objective of the CMA, which is to increase retendering of audits.</p><p>The CMA considered the impact of joint audits on competition and concluded that promoting joint audits would have little effect on barriers to entry, expansion and selection. The CMA’s conclusions were based on views provided by a range of stakeholders. The CMA was not able to quantify the potential cost of imposing joint audits, but did state that they believed that across the market the costs would be potentially significant. They state that a lot of weight was placed on the views of investors, who were almost universally opposed to joint audits on the grounds of additional costs and risks to audit quality.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 08/06/2016 15:47:35 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

521084

registered interest
date	24/05/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Audit: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase levels of competition in the auditing sector.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	38381
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2016 answer text <p>The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed its investigation into competition in the market for statutory audits of UK companies in the FTSE 350 in 2013. Since that investigation the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the CMA and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have been working to implement the remedies that the CMA identified to improve competition.</p><ul><li>The CMA issued an Order mandating the tendering of auditor appointments by UK companies in the FTSE 350 in 2014.</li><li>The FRC responded positively to the CMA recommendation to increase the frequency of its inspections of audits of the FTSE 350 companies and now expects to review most such audits at least once every five years.</li><li>The FRC has also developed further its communication with audit committees, to help them to meet new responsibilities under the UK Corporate Governance Code to report on significant matters arising from FRC inspections.</li><li>The CMA’s proposed remedy to prohibit restrictive clauses in companies’ agreements with third parties (such as loan agreements), to limit their choice of auditor, will be implemented as part of the current EU Audit Directive and Regulation.</li></ul><p>Once implemented the Directive and Regulation are expected to increase competition in the sector as they broaden the requirement for regular tendering of auditor appointments. Under implementing regulations currently laid before Parliament, all companies that are banks, building societies or insurers, or which have securities admitted to a regulated market, will be required regularly to subject their audit engagement to tendering. The maximum duration of an audit engagement will be limited to 20 years (currently there is no maximum duration). This will be introduced on a phased basis with some longstanding engagements given a further 4 or 7 financial years after the regulations come into force before they must be brought to an end and tendered to new auditors.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 08/06/2016 15:47:46 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

438469

registered interest
date	09/12/2015
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	New Businesses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage business start-ups and entrepreneurship.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	902720
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2015 answer text <br /><p>The Start-Up Loans scheme supports people wanting to start a business and has provided over 33,500 loans worth over £180 million. The Government is providing further funding to Growth Hubs to help businesses at the local level, as well as cutting taxes on small businesses, extending rate relief and increasing the Employment Allowance.</p><br /><p>The latest stats from the ONS show that the number of UK start-ups has reached record levels with some 351,000 new businesses launched in 2014.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 15/12/2015 17:50:34 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

61960

registered interest
date	16/06/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Insolvency
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many complaints the Government has received on the England and Wales personal insolvency regime in relation to (a) bankruptcy, (b) individual voluntary arrangements and (c) debt relief orders in each year since 2010; and what the nature was of such complaints.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	200891
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2014 answer text <p>The Insolvency Service (Agency) does not hold records that categorise complaints in this way for 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. The Agency's records are held in relation to complaints received in respect of the official receiver's administration of bankruptcies and debt relief orders (DROs) from 2012/13 onwards.</p><p>Since June 2013, following introduction of the Insolvency Practitioner Complaints Gateway, the Agency has maintained records of complaints made against Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) and their administration of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and Trust Deeds (a Scottish equivalent of IVAs) - no records are held for IVAs alone.</p><p>The following table summarises complaint numbers in respect of the official receiver or IP's administration of bankruptcies, IVA/ Trust Deeds and DROs.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Bankruptcy</p></td><td><p>IVA &amp; Trust Deeds</p></td><td><p>Debt relief orders</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>193</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>154</p></td><td><p>183</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Records detailing the nature of complaints received in relation to the official receiver's administration of bankruptcy and DRO cases have only been held since 2013/14. The complaints are categorised as follows:</p><p>Delay in taking action;</p><p>Delay in replying to correspondence;</p><p>Delay in returning telephone calls;</p><p>Personal conduct (of a member of staff);</p><p>Misleading/ incorrect information;</p><p>Failure to inform/ reply;</p><p>Failure to act;</p><p>Incorrect action; and</p><p>Quality of service by 3rd party acting for the Agency.</p><p>The nature of complaints received in respect of an IP's administration of IVAs are categorised as follows:</p><p>Complainant not receiving a completion certificate;</p><p>IP's failure to deal with correspondence;</p><p>Complainant disputing payment protection insurance compensation is asset in IVA;</p><p>Complainant believes they were given poor advice; and</p><p>IP failed to deal with an IVA/ Trust Deed in a timely way.</p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 23/06/2014 16:53:22 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

61961

registered interest
date	16/06/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Insolvency
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department's review of debt relief orders will be launched.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	200892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2014 answer text <p>We plan to launch a review of debt relief orders this year.</p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 19/06/2014 15:00:14 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

61962

registered interest
date	16/06/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Bankruptcy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will review the level of the debt threshold for a creditor bankruptcy petition.
tabling member constituency	Bedford
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	200896
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2014 answer text <p>We plan to review the debt threshold for a creditor bankruptcy petition this year.</p> answering member constituency Cardiff Central answering member printed Jenny Willott question first answered 19/06/2014 15:03:13 answering member 1497 label Biography information for Jenny Willott
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller