To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many cases of fraudulent trading have been investigated in each of the last three years; how many of these cases were brought to court; how many were not successful after (a) a full trial and (b) after dismissal by the judge before the defence case was heard in court; and what was the full cost of each investigation brought to court.

In 1990–91, 44 cases were referred to my Department for investigation with a view to prosecution for fraudulent trading; of these, 39 have been investigated or are still under investigation; the comparable figures for 1991–92 are 60 and 50, and for 1992–93 are 48 and 28. Nine of the cases where investigation began in 1990–91 have come to trial and convictions were obtained in four of these cases. In three cases, the defendant was found not guilty at the conclusion of the trial and in one case the judge ordered the charges to be left on file. In the remaining case the trial judge directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. None of the other cases for all three years has come to trial yet.It is not possible, within the limit imposed on costs, to provide the information requested on the full cost of each investigation brought to court.