§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many directors were disqualified under companies and financial services legislation in each year since 1980; and in how many cases his Department's inspectors' reports were a material factor in the disqualification.
§ Mr. Redwood[holding answer 29 October 1990]: Disqualification order made are noted in the report on companies, pursuant to section 729 of the Companies Act 1975, published each year, copies of which are in the Library. Section 8 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (disqualification after investigation of company) came into force on 29 December 1986 and enables applications to be made on the basis of reports made on or after 28 April 1986. No orders have yet been made under this section, but as the table shows many have been made under other sections.
Between 1980 and 1986 six orders were made under section 188 of the Companies Act 1988—power to restrain fraudulent persons from managing companies—and section 28 of the Companies Act 1976—disqualification for persistent default in delivering documents to registrar—involving companies where inspectors had been appointed.
Table 10 Disqualification Orders notified to the Registrar: 1978 to 1983 1978 7979 1980 1981 1982 1983 22 36 62 50 67 89 Note: Courts are required to send details of orders made which disqualify a person from taking part in the management of a company (Section 29, Companies Act 1976). Details of each current disqualification order are available for inspection by the public at Companies Houses in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh, and at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
619WThe statistics in the table relate to the prosecution of
Section D. Legal Proceedings Table D1. Disqualification Orders notified to the Secretary of State: 1984 to 1986, and 1986–1987 to 1989–90 Act and description 1984 1985 1986 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 Companies Act 1948 s 188 Restraint of fraudulent persons from managing companies 120 85 14 9 0 0 0 Companies Act 1985 s 296–299 Disqualification on conviction of indictable offence, for persistent default under the Companies Acts, for fraud in winding-up and on summary conviction 0 23 74 58 1 5 3 s 300 Disqualification by reference to association with insolvent companies 0 5 29 30 23 11 2 Insolvency Act 1976 s 9 Disqualification of directors of insolvent companies 8 7 7 0 1 0 0 Insolvency Act 1985 s 12 Disqualification of unfit directors of insolvent companies 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 s 2–5 Disqualification on conviction of indictable offence, for persistent breaches of companies legislation, for fraud in winding-up and on summary conviction 0 0 0 11 102 105 154 s 6, 8 & 10 Disqualification of unfit directors of insolvent companies, disqualification following investigation of companies and disqualification for wrongful trading 0 0 0 0 69 210 159 Totals 128 120 124 112 197 332 318 Note: Courts are required to send details of orders made which disqualify a person from taking part in the management of a company (Section 18, Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986). Details of each current disqualification order are available for inspection by the public at Companies House in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh, and at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.