To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what progress has been made in the UK Intellectual Property Office's consultation on representative actions; and when he expects (a) the consultation to conclude and (b) the UK Intellectual Property Office to report on the consultation findings. (217021)

The UK Intellectual Property Office's consultation on representative actions concluded in 2006 and their findings have not been published to date. The Ministry of Justice, who are the lead Department on representative actions, are shortly to commence an interdepartmental review on this subject and the UK Intellectual Property Office are involved with this exercise. The future direction of this work, as well as the timing of any announcements, will need to be guided by the emerging findings of the Ministry of Justice’s more general exercise.