FOI release

FOI 87 - Request about changes to LSD in regards to Scotland and also updated statistics

Updated 2 February 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-service-foi-responses-october-to-december-2021/foi-87-request-about-changes-to-lsd-in-regards-to-scotland-and-also-updated-statistics

Our ref: FOI21/22-087

Date: 01 November 2021.

Dear

1. Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email 4th October in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

  1. Whether there have been wholesale changes to the various teams and departments in the Insolvency Service (set out in Division II Chapter 1);

  2. Whether there was now any difference to the teams and the Insolvency Service’s procedures in Scotland and England;

  3. What presence does the new legal directorate have in Scotland (later clarified as to what physical presence);

  4. Whether the Chief Examiner in Scotland is a single individual;

  5. Updated statistics for the tables contained within your email.

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested and I have provided the answers below:

  1. The Defendant Liaison Team and Authorisation team were merged and now form a Senior Paralegal Team within the Legal Services Directorate. The team is responsible to reviewing cases and granting an Authority to Proceed (ATP) if it is in the public interest to do so. The team will then retain the case and send a Notice Pursuant to s.16 CDDA. If a disqualification undertaking is secured at this stage then the team will deal with it, including accepting the undertaking on behalf of the Secretary of State. If a case is contested, then the team will instruct solicitors to act for the Secretary of State and will liaise with the relevant investigation team.

  2. Investigations into Scottish cases are no longer solely dealt with by the team in Edinburgh. The internal processes for undertaking investigations and authorising proceedings are currently the same for cases in Scotland and England. There is a difference when the case is contested. Cases within England will be dealt with internally by the Legal Services Directorate whereas, for Scottish cases, external solicitors will be instructed.

  3. The Legal Services Directorate does not have a physical presence in Scotland. The Insolvency Service does have an office in Edinburgh.

  4. As stated above, the investigations into Scottish cases are now spread across the investigation teams. Therefore, there is no single Chief Investigator for Scotland.

  5. Please see attached Annex. Please note that the figures given are in calendar years so do not contain any data for 2021. Also, there was a change to the way in which director conduct was reported in 2016. Therefore, from this date the reference to ‘unfitted reports’ no longer applies. I have included the information that I believe you require to populate your tables.

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided you and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at foi@insolvency.gov.uk or by post at:

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service

3rd Floor

Cannon House

18 Priory Queensway

Birmingham

B4 6FD

United Kingdom

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have in regards to our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.

Kind regards

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Official receivers and the Adjudicator are Data Controllers in respect of personal data processed by the Insolvency Service. For the details about how personal data is processed by the agency, please see the full Insolvency Service Personal Information Charter here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service/about/personal-information-charter

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