§ Mr. WattsTo ask the Solicitor-General how many individuals have been successfully prosecuted for illegal trading in the last three years. [125208]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) among others prosecute offences of companies that continue to trade while insolvent.
The Serious Fraud Office has prosecuted one defendant in the last three years far an offence under section 458 of the Companies Act 1985.
The CPS's centrally held records do not include offence-based information about the cases that it prosecutes. It is therefore not possible to say, without incurring disproportionate cost, how many individuals have been prosecuted for such offences over the last three years.
The CPS is currently rolling out a new Compass Case Management System that will capture offence-based information from across the Service's 42 Areas.