§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many directors were disqualified under the Insolvency Act 1986 during each of the years 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990, respectively; and how many individual and how many corporate insolvencies there were in each of those years.
§ Mr. RedwoodThere are no provisions in the Insolvency Act 1986 which disqualify directors but every individual who is declared bankrupt by the courts is prohibited from acting in the management of a company for the duration of the bankruptcy, usually three years.
There were provisions relating to director disqualification in the Insolvency Act 1985 and the Companies Act 129W 1985. However, these were consolidated into the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The number of directors disqualified under these Acts and the number of individual and corporate insolvencies from 1987 to 1990 are as follows:
Corporate insolvencies Individual insolvencies Disqualification orders 1987 15,030 7,427 193 1988 14,226 8,507 333 1989 16,305 9,365 352 1990 23,630 13,987 382 There were 561 disqualification applications against directors awaiting hearing by the courts as at 31 December 1990.