To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his statement of 19 December, Official Report, column 203, whether he has taken any action against any of the third parties implicated in the Barlow Clowes collapse.

The Department is engaged in an urgent and wide-ranging assessment of possible legal actions against third parties to identify those cases which are worth pursuing in order to reduce the cost to public funds of the payments made to Barlow Clowes investors.