To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) the Insolvency Service and (b) administrators on the obligations to their creditors of successor companies to failed companies under pre-pack administration arrangements. (311751)

The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and has policy responsibility for insolvency matters. The Insolvency Service carries out the Secretary of State's function with regard to both the direct authorisation of insolvency practitioners and the regulation of the recognised professional bodies that authorise the vast majority of insolvency practitioners. The Department has therefore not had any direct liaison with administrators nor the recognised professional bodies on the issue of pre-packs as this has been undertaken by the Insolvency Service.

New disclosure requirements aimed at improving the transparency of pre-packaged administrations were introduced on 1 January 2009, in SIP (Statement of Insolvency Practice) 16. The Insolvency Service is examining all information received from insolvency practitioners in relation to disclosures made under SIP 16, and is working closely with the recognised professional bodies to improve insolvency practitioners' compliance with the SIP. A report on the first six months' operation of the SIP was published by the Insolvency Service in July 2009 and may be accessed through:

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionand legislation/policychange/sip16-final.pdf

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department has taken to assess the effects on small business creditors of the implementation of pre-pack administrations, with particular reference to (a) turnover and (b) numbers of jobs. (311756)

The Insolvency Service is an Executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and has policy responsibility for insolvency matters.

The Insolvency Service has made no specific assessment of the impact of pre-packaged administrations on small business creditors in relation to their turnover or number of jobs. However, it is not the pre-pack transaction that causes the loss to small business creditors, but the insolvency of the company.

In addition, the Office of Fair Trading has recently launched a market study into the corporate insolvency market. The study will look into the structure of the market and any features in the market which could result in harm, such as higher fees or lower recovery rates for certain groups of creditors.