HC Deb 04 June 1998 vol 313 cc318-9W
Mr. Chidgey

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has for the re-division of county courts between official receivers' officers; if she will list which courts are to be moved to which official receivers' offices; and when these changes will be implemented. [43848]

Mr. Nigel Griffiths

This is an operational matter for the Inspector General and Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service. I have asked him to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. David Chidgey, dated 4 June 1998: Mr. Nigel Griffiths MP, Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs, has asked me as Inspector General and Chief Executive of The Insolvency Service Executive Agency to reply to your question about the re-division of county courts between official receivers' offices. The Insolvency Service is implementing a new grading and pay system to come into effect on 1 August 1998. As part of that, it is looking at some adjustments to the case loads of some official receivers' offices, which will be achieved by the re-allocation of the work of some county courts between those offices. Consideration of those re-allocations has yet to be concluded, and I am therefore not yet in a position to provide a full list of the changes. I have however given an undertaking to supply the list to the Trade Union Side of the Agency National Whitley Committee by 2 July, and a copy will be made available to relevant staff: that timetable is expected to be met. The changes will take place over a period of time. The timing will be dependent on a number of factors, including current staffing levels in offices, but I do not see them involving any redundancies, compulsory transfers or office closures.