Insolvency: Data Protection
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what are the powers of (a) the Secretary of State, (b) Insolvency Service and (c) Insolvency Practitioners to request that corporate electronic communications held by a company in administration are retained where there is a wider public interest that such communications are not lost.
Answered by Blair McDougall
Insolvency office-holders, including administrators, are responsible for securing a company's records upon their appointment. The Insolvency Service, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, may request relevant records are retained where it is conducting investigations or legal proceedings into the company and its directors, where this is in the public interest to do so. There is no general power under insolvency law to request retention of a company's electronic communications solely on wider public interest grounds.
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