Homepower Stores Ltd

EDM number 916 in 1995-96, proposed by David Hinchliffe on 21/05/1996.

That this House notes with serious concern recent events involving Homepower Stores Ltd., previously the retail outlet of Yorkshire Electricity plc, now under the ownership of Powerstore Holdings Ltd., which is insolvent according to correspondence received by the company's employees; is angered by the apparent failure to honour an agreement between Yorkshire Electricity and its past employees which would have guaranteed their redundancy rights; is alarmed that the South African owner of Powerstore and the service company Supercare Solutions has not paid bills to creditors or passed on money deducted from the wages of its employees for trade union membership; calls for the establishment of an urgent Government inquiry into the affair which, following the privatisation of the electricity industry, will result in a loss of services to consumers and reduced employment opportunities; and considers that such an inquiry should establish whether the timing of calling in administrators was influenced by an attempt to evade agreements with employees and whether monies paid to Homepower for warranties have been used for this purpose.

This motion has been signed by a total of 24 MPs.