FOI release

FOI 125 - Regulation of IPs

Updated 2 February 2022

Our ref: FOI21/22-125

Date: 17 December 2021

Dear

1. Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

Thank you for your email of 09 December in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

1. What records you hold regarding IP’s insolvency licence.

2. If Mr James Paul Shaw only had a partial licence for insolvency appointments in relation to companies or individuals only, why would The Insolvency Service be unaware of this fact.

3. If Mr Shaw only held a partial licence for insolvency appointments in relation to companies how would it be possible to be appointed a trustee or joint trustee for individuals .

4. Or does The Insolvency Service have no interest in whether a IP is a licence holder with the correct ICAEW insolvency licence .

5. What information and policy do the The Insolvency Service hold relating to your IP’s and their qualifications and details that you register.

6. And what actions does your service take if an IP has acted under an incorrect insolvency licence, a partial licence that only applies to company appointments not a licence for appointments for individuals.

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

The Insolvency Service partially holds some of the information you have requested.

Please note FOIA only applies to recorded information, it does not require public authorities to create information in order to answer a question.

The Insolvency Service are informed annually at the start of every year of the number of IPs licenced by each recognised professional body, which includes information on whether they hold a full or partial (i.e. they can only take either corporate or personal appointments) licence. This information is provided by the Recognised Professional Bodies (RPBs), who licence and regulate the IPs and some of this is published in our annual review.

We hold no further information relating to this request. The Insolvency Service does not maintain the record of IP’s and as such your questions should be directed to the RPB who oversees individual IPs. Should an IP be discovered to have taken an appointment outside of that which their licence allows then that would be a disciplinary matter for that individual’s regulator.

The Insolvency Service cannot help any further on this matter and you should direct any further questions to the individual IP regulator.

1.1 Complaints

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at [email protected] 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 Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding 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.

Yours sincerely,

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