Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has held with stakeholders on the nature of the warranties sold by Scottish Power to its customers in the 1980s and 1990s.

After this matter was raised by the Hon. Member for Bradford South (Gerry Sutcliffe) at Prime Minister’s Questions on 28 June 2014, I, along with officials from the Insolvency Service, held a meeting with the Hon. Member for Bradford South, Mr Sutcliffe, on 17 July 2014. Mr Sutcliffe is head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for this issue, and therefore representative of stakeholders’ views. At that meeting he handed over further information from the liquidators of two companies which operated the extended warranty schemes sold by Scottish Power, and we agreed that the Insolvency Service would review this information to ascertain whether or not further investigation was appropriate. It was explained to Mr Sutcliffe that any decision whether or not to commence an investigation using s447 Companies Act would be confidential and the Insolvency Service would not be in a position to confirm that decision or comment further.