Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of reports of breaches by directors of the Insolvency Act 1986 and Companies Act 2006 were investigated by the Insolvency Service in each of the last five years.

The Insolvency Service receives reports on directors’ conduct, in particular of companies entering formal insolvency procedures.

Cases with reports of director misconduct are considered in line with the Insolvency Service’s acceptance criteria. The most serious cases are vetted and where appropriate taken forward for investigation.

Information from Insolvency Service internal management systems shows the number of cases vetted and investigations commenced with a view to director disqualification in the last 5 years. The latter includes a number of cases where the investigation commenced as a result of information from another source.

Companies vetted in any one year may be taken forward for investigation in a later year. The figures in the table relate to the number of companies not the number of directors. An investigation may encompass more than one company.

The first column excludes companies vetted in compulsory liquidation cases prior to January 2020.