Insolvency Practitioners (Hansard, 28 March 1996)

§ Sir Peter Fry
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to increase the effectiveness of the monitoring of licensed insolvency practitioners. [22533]

§ Mr. Oppenheim
Officials are, and will continue to be, in close contact with the recognised professional bodies as part of the on-going development of monitoring of practitioners. In particular, there is in place a programme of visits by officials to the bodies to look at monitoring procedures and appropriate recommendations are made where there appears to be scope for improvement.

§ Sir Peter Fry
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many licensed insolvency practitioners have had their licenses suspended or withdrawn in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [22534]

§ Mr. Oppenheim
The number of insolvency practitioners who have had their authorisations revoked or their application for renewal of their authorisation refused is as follows:728W

Year ended 31 December 1991: 1

Year ended 31 December 1992: 0

Year ended 31 December 1993: 2

Year ended 31 December 1994: 8

Year ended 31 December 1995: 11.

§ Sir Peter Fry
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many licensed insolvency practitioners who have been subject to monitoring have been found not to have complied fully with the Insolvency Act 1986 and other related statutes; and how many such practitioners have had disciplinary action taken against them. [22535]

§ Mr. Oppenheim
This information is not maintained in this form.
The monitoring of insolvency practitioners is undertaken in order to assist the authorising body in determining whether a practitioner is and continues to be fit and proper and to promote compliance not only with statutory obligations but with best practice.
Where a failure in compliance is identified, this is reported and undertakings are sought where appropriate from the practitioner. The authorising body will consider whether further action is appropriate in more serious cases.

§ Sir Peter Fry
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many licensed insolvency practitioners there are; and how many have had monitoring visits from the supervisory bodies in the last three years for which figures are available. [22536]

§ Mr. Oppenheim
As at 31 December 1995, there were 1,939 individuals authorised to act as insolvency practitioners.
The figures show the number of monitoring visits to practitioners carried out by the recognised professional bodies and by officials on behalf of the Secretary of State. Some practitioners will have been visited on more than one occasions during the period in question.

Year ended 31 December 1993: 199

Year ended 31 December 1994: 459

Year ended 31 December 1995: 527.