Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of (a) secured and (b) unsecured creditors who attend creditor meetings during an insolvency procedure.

There is no central record of how many creditors attend meetings in person, but evidence indicates that attendance at meetings is very low and that many meetings are not attended at all.

The 2013 report, “Review of Insolvency Practitioner Fees” by Professor Elaine Kempson, estimated that only 4% of creditors attend meetings in person and that fully secured creditors seldom attend in person.

The report goes on to say that two firms had actually calculated the percentage of creditors attending meetings in person. A large firm had calculated that 1% of creditors do so, and a smaller firm had calculated the amount to be 3.5%.