Department for Business and Trade written question – answered at on 8 June 2026.
Euan Stainbank
Labour, Falkirk
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, since 4 July 2024 how many reports regarding conduct of directions from insolvency practitioners included reports of gratuitous alienation.
Blair McDougall
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Section 242 of the Insolvency Act 1986 applies to gratuitous alienations in Scotland, allowing certain transactions to be challenged where company assets are transferred for no consideration or below value. Director conduct reports do not include a specific field for gratuitous alienation but do ask whether assets were disposed of for less than market value.
Using this as a proxy, 808 of 22,629 director conduct reports in 2024 and 622 of 19,464 received in the 11 months to 30 November 2025 answered “yes”.
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