To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many complaints the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate has received regarding the advertising of non-existent jobs in the last 12 months; and how many of these complaints have been upheld. (225348)

Between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate received 30 complaints regarding the potential breach of the regulation regarding the advertisement of non-existent jobs (regulation 27 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003). All 30 complaints were investigated and warnings were issued to 11 companies who were found to be in breach of the Regulations.