“The Commission asked us for information on our regulation of the Lloyd’s market. Mr Perry’s report said the Government was slow to write the directive into UK law and then failed to enforce it.A spokesman for the Treasury said the Government was adamant it had not breached any of its obligations in relation to Lloyd’s. Governments are required by an EU directive to make sure that insurers have enough funds to cover their liabilities. A decision is unlikely until January next year.The report raises questions over the accounts of Lloyd’s and how they were audited at a time when syndicates were known to be facing potentially huge asbestos-related claims.Lloyd’s suffered losses of around £8bn between 1988 and 1992 from hefty insurance claims, bankrupting many names.

Mr Perry yesterday presented his findings to the European Commission.The report may now pave the way for investors who provided funds to underwrite the insurance claims to sue the Government.Mr Perry wants an inquiry to be set up into how Lloyd’s has been regulated and is now waiting for the EU to decide whether to pursue legal action against the Government. The Government was yesterday condemned by a European parliamentary report for failing to properly regulate the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.
Roy Perry, the Conservative MEP, was asked to investigate the Government’s handling of the market after several names filed complaints that it had failed to implement EU laws quickly enough and allowed Lloyd’s to produce inadequate accounts. While that figure is about 6 per cent better than the second quarter, it was slightly beneath analysts’ expectations of about £8m.. Mr Anania also cautioned that he expected the “currently depressed” components market to remain tough “for the next several quarters”.Bookham forecast it would record revenues of about £7.5m in the third quarter to 30 September. About 800 of those staff are based in the UK with the rest in Switzerland and Canada. “We believe the optical communications market has good long-term potential.” Bookham predicted the tie-up could generate cost savings of up to £15m a quarter in the short term and a further £9m a quarter in the medium term.But the deal, which is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting scheduled for 5 November, is also expected to result in job losses.Bookham, which employs about 800 staff, will be taking on an extra 1,300 workers.

They can now choose higher quality contracts, because of the sheer volume of government work available.”The CRB contract has attracted political controversy, after teachers’ records were not checked in time for the new school term.. However, Capita is focused on the outsourcing of white-collar administrative and IT work under a PPP arrangement, rather than PFl, which requires companies to bear high bid costs and contracting risk to build public infrastructure, such as new schools and roads.Capita shares have been dragged down from more than 500p this year, after a series of PFI disasters affecting other companies, especially Amey, Interserve and WS Atkins.Kevin Lapwood, analyst at ING, said: “There’s no shortage of opportunities for Capita The revenues are there. We remain comfortable with analysts’ consensus forecasts for 2002 and 2003.”The City expects 2002 earnings growth of 32 per cent and a further 22 per cent next year at Capita, which works mostly for local and national government. Capita suggested these were one-off contracts.Rod Aldridge, executive chairman, said: “Our business remains in great shape with excellent forward visibility and strong free cash flow.