HC Deb 01 February 1994 vol 236 cc615-6W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many bankruptcy and company case administrations were completed in each of the last five years(a) by the Insolvency Service and (b) by insolvency practitioners.

Mr. Neil Hamilton

(a) Official Receivers completed their administration, including handing over cases to insolvency practitioners where they have been appointed trustee or liquidator in place of the Official Receiver, of the following numbers of compulsory insolvencies:

Bankruptcy Company
1989–90 7,980 3,861
1990–91 10,799 4,982
1991–92 15,516 5,900
1992–93 16,169 4,957
1993–94 (9 months) 16,751 4,711

(b) Insolvency practitioners completed the administration in the following number of compulsory insolvencies:

Bankruptcy Company
1989–90 N/A N/A
1990–91 N/A N/A
1991–92 2,844 857
1992–93 3,024 1,030
1993–94 (9 months) 2,452 861

The Insolvency Service does not maintain data on the number of voluntary liquidations completed in any year.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many successful fraudulent trading prosecutions there were in each of the last five years arising from investigations by(a) the Insolvency Service, (b) insolvency practitioners and (c) other bodies.

Mr. Neil Hamilton

Prosecutions by my Department for fraudulent trading resulted in 17 convictions in 1989–90, 22 convictions in 1990–91, 11 convictions in 1991–92, 24 convictions in 1992–93 and 26 convictions so far in 1993–94. Records are not kept in such a form that information about the origin of all these cases is readily available, but I can say that 19 of the convictions in 1992–93 arose from investigations by the Insolvency Service, and that 24 of the convictions in 1993–94 arose from such investigations.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many disqualification reports were received by the Insolvency Service in each of the last five years from(a) the Official Receiver and (b) insolvency practitioners.

Mr. Neil Hamilton

The number of disqualification reports received was as follows:

Practitioners Official Receivers Insolvency
1988–89 1,204 3,005
1989–90 1,358 2,086
1990–91 1,617 2,891
1991–92 2,402 3,769
1992–93 2,657 4,053
9 months to 31 December 1993 2,487 2,841

A report is received where at least some element of unfit conduct on the part of the director(s) has been identified. Unfit conduct may vary from, for example, an isolated delay in complying with requirements relating to the production and filing of accounts and returns at Companies House to a failure to safeguard deposit monies received from members of the public. It would not therefore be appropriate to institute disqualification proceedings in every case in which a report is submitted.