§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many companies were not investigated in the last two years due to lack of resources after receipt of an initial report highlighting misconduct under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Jonathan Evans[holding answer 15 December 1994]: The number of cases of reported unfit conduct which on first consideration warranted further investigation but which could not be taken forward were:
Year Number 1992–93 192 1993–94 657 1994–95 (to 30 November 1994) 354 The Insolvency Service has not been able to take forward as many disqualification cases as would have been considered appropriate because of the need to balance priorities within the resources available to it against the background of a sharp and substantial increase in the number of insolvencies with which it has had to deal. More resources have now been made available to the service, particularly in the area of director disqualification, and this is resulting in a very significant increase in the number of disqualifications taken forward.