The Department does not record details of the fees paid to insolvency practitioners.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service, Companies House, the National Measurement Office and the Intellectual Property Office and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 8 February 2010:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 28 January 2010, UIN 315180, to the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Companies House has no record of any fees paid to Insolvency Practitioners.
Letter from Peter Mason, dated 15 February 2010:
I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 29 January 2010, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills asking what record is kept of fees paid to insolvency practitioners.
The nature of the National Measurement Office's business, and that of its predecessor the National Weights & Measures Laboratory, means that there should be no need to pay any fees to insolvency practitioners, and there are no records of us having done so. Should there be occasion to pay such fees we would expect to register them separately in our accounting records through the creation of a new account code.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 2 February 2010:
The Minister of State, for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has asked me to reply to your question what record (a) his Department and (b) its agencies keeps of fees paid to insolvency practitioners.
In corporate insolvencies, the officeholder is required to file receipts and payments accounts or statement of accounts with the Registrar of Companies. In Individual Voluntary Arrangements, the Supervisor is required to send a final receipts and payments account to the Secretary of State.
This information is not extracted or collated into a central record.
Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 2 February 2010:
I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 29 January 2010, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The Intellectual Property Office maintains records of all payments and has paid no fees to insolvency practitioners.