Partners from Deloitte, PwC and KPMG will find themselves up for a grilling by MPs at the start of next week as part of the two investigations by Parliamentary select committees into the events surrounding the administration of BHS and the fate of the retailer’s pension scheme
The business, innovation and skills (BIS) committee’s inquiry is looking into the sale and acquisition of BHS. It plans to examine the steps taken by Arcadia Group to ensure that Retail Acquisitions Limited (RAL) was a responsible owner, and will also explore what checks were undertaken by RAL to verify that BHS was a going concern.
The work and pensions committee inquiry is focusing on BHS liabilities' impact on the Pension Protection Fund. Both committees have agreed to interview witnesses at joint evidence sessions.
The afternoon session on Monday 23 May will first tackle advisers on pensions, and will be hearing from Deloitte partner Tony Clare, David Clarke, partner KPMG, and PwC partner Richard Cousins, among others.
Steve Denison, partner, PwC is then scheduled to appear at the second part of Monday’s hearing, which is devoted to advisers to Arcadia and Taveta (the investment group used by the family of BHS’s former owner, Sir Philip Green). The third stage of the hearing will call witnesses from the Arcadia Group, including Paul Budge who is finance director, Arcadia Group, and director Taveta Investments Ltd.
There will then be a session on 25 May 2016 which will cross examine BHS pension trustees. It will also ask for evidence from the advisers to RAL, with Grant Thornton expected to make contribution.
On 8 June, the joint select committee will examine members of the BHS and RAL management teams, while Green is expected to appear in front of MPs on 15 June.
Iain Wright, chair of the BIS committee said: ‘In these sessions, we will want to explore how RAL was considered to be a suitable buyer for BHS, an apparently struggling high street store which was saddled with a large pension deficit. We will want to untangle the nature of the advice, both formal and informal, which was provided to Arcadia and RAL as part of the sale process. We will want to probe the role of directors in this sale and to examine whether the existing regulatory regime is fit for purpose.’
Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions committee, said: ‘We have selected our witnesses with five key questions in mind: how much money over the past decade or more left BHS? How did the pension fund deficit grow during this phase? To whom did this money go? How did the pension fund feature in negotiations over BHS's recent change of ownership? And does the law, or rather the enforcement of the law, require reform to prevent similar episodes happening in future.’
Details of the committee’s session are here
