Asked by: Joe Powell (Labour - Kensington and Bayswater)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle rogue company directors.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I commend the Honourable Member for his relentless work on this issue, and I share his concern, because communities like Portobello Road and Notting Hill Gate should be places where legitimate businesses thrive, not where rogue traders and repeat directors play the system.
Since Budget 2025, action against rogue directors and abusive phoenixism has been stepped up.
£25 million over five years has been allocated to the Insolvency Service to establish a new Abusive Phoenixixm Taskforce, alongside changes to the Company Directors Disqualification Act to widen the circumstances in which directors who break the law can be disqualified.
Asked by: Joe Powell (Labour - Kensington and Bayswater)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to recover public money spent on contracts for goods and services that were not provided during the pandemic.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
We are appointing a fixed-term Covid Fraud Commissioner through an open competition that is running now. The Commissioner will make sure that everything is done to return the money owed to the public purse, with a primary focus on pandemic PPE contracts. The Commissioner will report to the Chancellor, working with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and their report will be presented to Parliament for all Members to see.