Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, by when he expects the findings from the Insolvency Service investigation into BHS to be published.
Anna Soubry
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills recently announced plans to expedite this Insolvency Service investigation. It is not appropriate for details of the ongoing investigation to be made public as that may prejudice the outcome of any criminal or civil cases which arise from it. This is long standing Insolvency Service policy. However, I have met with the Insolvency Service to discuss the conduct of the investigation and will expect to do so periodically as the investigation progresses.
If any directors are disqualified the Insolvency Service will publish the details of the disqualification on its website (for three months) and will notify Companies House, which keeps the statutory register of disqualifications. In addition, where the investigation uncovers matters of potential criminal misconduct or other regulatory breaches then this will be reported to the relevant authority for further action.
Once the investigation is completed the Government will consider what detail it is appropriate to publish having full regard to any legal restrictions and on the legitimate public interest in the cause of the BHS failure.
