§ Lord Hunt of Wirralasked Her Majesty's Government:
What additional resources will be made available to the Official Receiver to cope with the reformed system for personal bankruptcies proposed in the Enterprise Bill. [HL5757]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe Enterprise Bill puts in place mechanisms to reform the financial regime of the Insolvency Service. As a result of these reforms, the fee structure will become simpler and more transparent, and in future the cost of case administration will be fully recovered through fees.
The Insolvency Service has been given additional funding over the next two years which will enable it to be ready to introduce the proposed reforms. It will be necessary to invest in both the infrastructure of the Insolvency Service and in the training of its staff so that it can continue delivering the levels of service its customers expect. The additional funding will allow this investment to take place.
§ Lord Hunt of Wirralasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Insolvency Services' internal guidance to the Official Receivers' staff on the revisions concerning personal insolvency proposed in the Enterprise Bill will be made public and be open to consultation. [HL5758]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleIn line with Insolvency Service policy for publishing material under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, internal guidance for staff relating to the administrative aspects of the Enterprise Bill's individual insolvency proposals will be published. However, guidance on enforcement matters, including the operation of the system for bankruptcy restrictions orders, will not be published.
§ Lord Hunt of Wirralasked Her Majesty's Government:
What discussions were held with the consumer credit industry in drawing up the regulatory impact assessment for the Enterprise Bill, which concluded that the reforms proposed would have no cost implications for the industry. [HL5759]
35WA
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe 2001 White PaperProductivity and Enterprise—Insolvency A Second Chance contained a draft regulatory impact assessment. A wide range of organisations responded to the White Paper, including representatives of the finance sector and consumer credit organisations, and their views helped inform the regulatory impact assessment for the Bill.
§ Lord Hunt of Wirralasked Her Majesty's Government:
What evidence was considered from other jurisdictions when putting together the personal insolvency reforms proposed in the Enterprise Bill. [HL5760]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleWhile formulating the individual insolvency proposals we looked at evidence from and reforms in a wide range of jurisdictions, including Scotland, Canada, the US, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, as well as other regimes in Europe.