§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the projected cost of the Insolvency Service's local office ledger accounting computer system. [29245]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe set-up cost of the LOLA—local office ledger accounting system—is estimated to he £1,543,000.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what measures he proposes taking to ensure creditors' meetings take place in areas affected by particular insolvencies in the event of official receivers' offices being closed as a result of contracting out. [29189]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe venue of a creditors meeting will still be governed by rules 4.60 and 6.86 of the Insolvency Rules 1986, which states
the person summoning the meeting is to have regard for the convenience of persons (other than the chairman) invited to attend".There is no obligation to hold meetings at official receivers' offices; and they may be held at any convenient venue considered appropriate.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he plans to take to conserve the training investment in the specialist accountancy staff in the organisation in the event of the work of the Insolvency Service being contracted out. [29192]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansIn the event of any contracting out of official receiver's functions, the residual work of the Insolvency Service would require the continued employment of the bulk of its specialist staff.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, following the implementation of current proposals to contract out the work of the Insolvency Service, which offices he proposes to close. [29190]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansNo decisions have yet been taken in relation to the size and location of the Insolvency Service. It is not expected that such decisions will be made until conclusions on contracting out have been reached.
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§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to raise the standards of conduct for private insolvency practitioners to(a) the current performance level and (b) the current targets set for official receivers' staff as condition for proceeding further with contracting out proposals for the Insolvency Service. [29186]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe requirement scoping document recently issued to potential bidders set out levels of experience and competencies of staff that will be required. Any provider, who may or may not be an insolvency practitioner, must satisfy these requirements. In addition, the performance of contractors would he closely monitored to ensure that standards were being consistently maintained to an equal or better level than the standards of expertise and performance currently achieved by the Insolvency Service.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many(a) bankruptcy orders and (b) winding up orders were dealt with by the Sheffield official receiver's office during each of the last five years. [28797]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe total numbers of bankruptcy orders and winding up orders dealt with by the official receiver's Sheffield office in each of the last five years were as follows:
Financial year Bankruptcy Winding up 1990–91 288 102 1991–92 570 110 1992–93 640 120 1993–94 559 94 1994–95 488 98
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, what plans the Insolvency Service has to administer those cases not finalised by 31 March 1996 following contractorisation of the official receiver. [28799]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansOfficial are exploring arrangements which would enable existing cases at 1 April 1996 to be transferred to contractors to complete their administration.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if staff of the official receiver's office transferred to the private sector will have their salaries enhanced to compensate for the absence of non-contributory pensions for the purpose of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981. [28827]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansAlthough TUPE does not cover the transfer of occupational pension rights, a new employer will be required to provide broadly comparable pension arrangements. These arrangements would be considered by the Department as part of the preparations for any transfer. The Government Actuary will provide an independent analysis of comparability and will need to approve the new arrangements as offering broadly comparable benefits. The Government Actuary will assess the arrangements as a whole to ascertain their comparability to the principal civil service pension scheme and these arrangements may 63W include compensation, for example, for employee contributions or different levels of benefit.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many permanent staff were employed by the Insolvency Service in the Sheffield office on 31 March for each year since 1990. [28795]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansNumbers of permanent staff employed at the official receiver Sheffield office as at 1 April in each of the last five years were as follows:
Year Number of permanent staff 1 April 1990 24 1 April 1991 23.5 1 April 1992 22.5 1 April 1993 23.5 1 April 1994 21.5 1 April 1995 20
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of the Insolvency Service are solely engaged on work surrounding the contracting out proposals; and what is the cost of their work. [28803]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThere are currently five members of the Insolvency Service solely engaged in work concerning the proposed contracting out of the functions of the official receiver. Other members of staff spend varying proportions of their time dealing with the issues associated with this work.
It is estimated that the cost to the Insolvency Service of the options exercise will be approximately £1.35 million in the 1995–96 financial year.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the effects the contracting out of the administrative functions of the official receiver will have on the Sheffield office. [28798]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansAny decisions and any effects of contracting out in relation to the Sheffield office of the official receiver will be known only once decisions are reached regarding the whole of the Insolvency Service.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many directors were disqualified from managing a limited company under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 in the courts covered by the official receiver's office, Sheffield during the past eight years. [28794]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe numbers of disqualification orders made under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 in the Sheffield, Doncaster, Chesterfield and Barnsley courts covered by the official receiver Sheffield office in each of the last eight years were as follows:
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Financial year Number of orders made 1 April 1987–31 March 1988 0 1 April 1988–31 March 1989 3 1 April 1989–31 March 1990 1 1 April 1990–31 March 1991 6 1 April 1991–31 March 1992 2 1 April 1992–31 March 1993 3 1 April 1993–31 March 1994 0 1 April 1994–31 March 1995 1
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of the Sheffield office will be surplus of requirement following contractorisation of the functions of the functions of the official receiver. [28826]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansAny decisions in relation to the staff in the official receiver's office in Sheffield will be made in the light of decisions taken on contracting out.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many firms or companies resident in Sheffield have expressed an interest in bidding for some of the functions of the official receiver. [28800]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansNo firm responding to the advertisements calling for expressions of interest in the contracting out of functions of the official receiver listed a Sheffield address.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans his Department has for providing information to staff regarding their future employment options following contractorisation of the functions of the official receiver. [28824]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansA communications strategy is currently in place within the Insolvency Service with the aim of keeping the staff as up to date with the status of contracting out as possible. The intention is to provide information on the options available to staff as it becomes known.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many casual and short-term contract staff were engaged at the official receiver's office in Sheffield in each of the past four years. [28796]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe number of casual and short-term contract staff employed at the official receiver Sheffield office as at 1 April in each of the last four years was as follows:
Year Casual staff Staff on loan from other Government Departments 1 April 1992 3 0 1 April 1993 1 0 1 April 1994 2 2 1 April 1995 0 2
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what additional resources the Insolvency Service has been given to enable the contracting out process to be completed. [28804]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansApproximately an additional £1.3 million has been allocated to cover the Insolvency Service's costs for the contracting out exercise.