Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of regulations allowing people whose companies’ debts are written off to retain personal wealth on public confidence in (a) fraud investigation and (b) public bodies.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are no plans for any such assessment.
Companies are separate legal entities from their directors; those directors only become liable for company debts in limited circumstances. This protection encourages entrepreneurship and is central to the health of the UK economy.
Most companies become insolvent for genuine reasons, however insolvency office-holders have wide powers to recover funds from directors who have not acted in the company’s best interests. The Insolvency Service may also take disqualification action against reckless or dishonest directors and can apply for a compensation order against them, as well as prosecute breaches of company and insolvency legislation.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to review company insolvency rules that permit company directors to retain significant personal assets following corporate bankruptcy.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Companies are separate legal entities and directors only become liable for company debts under limited circumstances. This protection encourages entrepreneurship and is central to the health of the UK economy.
Most companies do not become insolvent due to any wrongdoing by the company directors. However, when there is evidence of misconduct, the Insolvency Service may take action to disqualify a director, and where the disqualified director’s conduct has caused a quantifiable loss, can apply to the court for a compensation order to recover personal assets for the benefit of creditors.
There are no plans to review this legislation.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of restricting the sale of high-noise fireworks in response to reports of harm to livestock and working farm dogs in West Dorset.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare, or merits of restricting sales of high-noise fireworks. Building on the work of my predecessor, I will continue to engage with stakeholders, including veterinary organisations, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes guidance for those running community events, which encourages the use of low-noise fireworks and social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with veterinary organisations on the effects of fireworks noise on dogs and companion animals in (a) rural constituencies and (b) West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare, or merits of restricting sales of high-noise fireworks. Building on the work of my predecessor, I will continue to engage with stakeholders, including veterinary organisations, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes guidance for those running community events, which encourages the use of low-noise fireworks and social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve public awareness of the potential impact of fireworks on animals in (a) rural constituencies and (b) West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare, or merits of restricting sales of high-noise fireworks. Building on the work of my predecessor, I will continue to engage with stakeholders, including veterinary organisations, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes guidance for those running community events, which encourages the use of low-noise fireworks and social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare in (a) rural constituencies (b) West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare, or merits of restricting sales of high-noise fireworks. Building on the work of my predecessor, I will continue to engage with stakeholders, including veterinary organisations, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes guidance for those running community events, which encourages the use of low-noise fireworks and social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to review the licensing regime for fireworks.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of unregulated fireworks use on animal welfare, or merits of restricting sales of high-noise fireworks. Building on the work of my predecessor, I will continue to engage with stakeholders, including veterinary organisations, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign includes guidance for those running community events, which encourages the use of low-noise fireworks and social media posts that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen protections for small businesses against “phoenixing” as part of the Government’s late payment reforms in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government will legislate to end the scourge of late payments which costs the UK economy £11bn per year and closes down 38 UK businesses every day. We published a consultation on our proposed legislative measures on 31st July which is live until 23rd October.
The Insolvency Service is committed to working closely with HMRC and Companies House to tackle the harm caused by companies who use ‘Phoenixing’ as a means of avoiding liabilities. There is a range of ongoing activity being led by the Treasury that includes a desire to develop a detailed cross-government threat assessment.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) prevalence of phoenixing and (b) potential impact of phoenixing on small businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Insolvency Service is committed to working closely with HMRC and Companies House to tackle the harm caused by companies who use ‘Phoenixing’ as a means of avoiding liabilities. There is a range of ongoing activity set out in the recent Treasury Minutes – CP 1306 including a desire to develop a detailed cross-government threat assessment.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to introduce (a) additional regulatory and (b) enforcement measures to prevent directors of insolvent companies from engaging in phoenixing.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is keenly aware of concerns around “phoenixing”, and officials at The Insolvency Service are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the civil enforcement regime to evaluate how best to tackle and prevent wrongdoing by directors of insolvent or dissolved companies. Measures were also announced at both the Autumn Budget 2024 and the Spring Statement 2025 committing HMRC, the Insolvency Service and Companies House to increase collaboration to tackle those using contrived corporate insolvencies and dissolutions (often referred to as ‘phoenixism).