Striking Off: Companies that fail to deliver

Dear Companies House,

please could you help me to understand why companies
FC026153/BR008336 remain on the companies register?

FC026153/BR008336 (Phorm UK) last accounts were made up to
31/12/2006 (3 years ago).

The last details of a change in directors responsibilities were
filed on 28/11/2006 (over 3 years ago).

The last current appointments report I obtained from Companies
House was clearly inaccurate (including directors I believe left
the organisation some years ago).

In a recent FoI response you told me that "All overseas companies
with a UK Establishment (previously called branch) are required to
file accounts to Companies House each year" and "Overseas companies
are required to notify Companies House of any changes to officers
of the company".

My understanding, taken from your website (*), is that "An overseas
company must deliver forms notifying the changes of particulars of
the UK establishment to Companies House within 21 days of the
change".

Further, an overseas company must "deliver [accounts] to Companies
House within 3 months from the date on which the document is
required to be disclosed in accordance with its parent law" else
"failure to deliver the accounting documents and accompanying
statement to Companies House by the due date is a criminal offence
committed by every person who was a director before the end of the
3 month delivery period".

Please could you disclose to me;
- copies of the default notices that I understand have been sent to
FC026153/BR008336, (but which are not available on WebCheck)
- copies of other correspondence between Companies House and
directors of FC026153/BR008336 in the period 2006 to the present
day, concerning their failure to comply with the legislation and
regulations enforced by Companies House
- details of enforcement or criminal proceedings resulting from
consequent action
- names of any directors who may have been disqualified for failing
to comply with UK company law

As a point of information, Phorm's subsidiary companies 121Media UK
and 121Media Europe were recently struck off after apparently
failing to comply with company legislation.

Many thanks,
Yours faithfully,

P. John

(*) http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/g...

Dear Howells,

further to my Freedom of Information request below, please can I
chase progress? Your response was due promptly, and not later than
3 February.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/st...

Companies House are presently breaking the law.

Please can I have your response within the next 48 hours?

Yours sincerely,

P. John

Dear Mr. Howells

your response to my Freedom of Information request is now a week
over due;

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/st...

A complaint has been sent to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Please will would provide the information requested immediately?

Yours faithfully,

P. John

Dear Ms Lumsden,

many thanks for your note.

You may be familiar with ICO guidance which states;

"It is often believed that the Data Protection Act prevents the
disclosure of any personal data without the consent of the person
concerned. This is not true. The purpose of the Data Protection Act
is to protect the private lives of individuals. **Where information
requested is about the people acting in a work or official capacity
then it will normally be right to disclose**."

Given the information requested relates to the professional
capacity of company Directors, and their failure to deliver timely
and accurate documents as is their legal duty, I look forward to
receiving the information from you without further delay.

It is very much in the public interest for Companies House to
provide an account for the reasons why any company which has
conspicuously failed to comply with UK law is still on the register
after three years, and provide an account of the efforts that have
been made to pursue, prosecute, and disqualify Directors who may
have committed criminal offences.

Yours sincerely,

P. John

See
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

Dear Mrs Lumsden,

further to my Freedom of Information request below, please can I
chase progress once again? Your response was due promptly, and no
later than 3 February.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/st...

Companies House are presently breaking the law.

Please can I have your response? Your response is now over two
weeks overdue.

To repeat, I am keen to understand understand why companies
FC026153/BR008336 remain on the companies register despite failing
to comply with UK company law for the last 3 years. And also wish
to know what action Companies House has been taken against the
Directors of the company as a consequence.

Yours sincerely,

P. John

Dear Mrs Lumsden,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Companies House's
handling of my FOI request 'Striking Off: Companies that fail to
deliver'.

I am appalled to learn that Companies House might have taken no
action against this company, despite their failure to supply
accounts or details of directors, and despite their evident failure
to meet the 28 day deadline imposed by Companies House first on 20
July 2009 and repeated again on 1 September 2009.

Have no fines been imposed? No penalties? I understood such 'late
filing' penalties were imposed automatically when a company failed
to meet a filing deadline.

I think your redactions under s21 are completely unnecessary and
excessive. Since this information is supposedly already accessible
to me please will you specify: what information do you believe is
already accessible to me? It is not apparent to me, from what
little information you have supplied, or the context of the
redaction, what it is I am supposed to be able to access from
elsewhere.

I would be grateful if one of your senior colleagues would review
both this freedom of information request, and the complete history
of the dialog between Phorm and Companies House.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/st...

Yours faithfully,

P. John

Dear Ms Thomas,

many thanks for your response.

I'm disappointed to learn that the data concealed from me in the
first instance would have confirmed that Companies House have
failed to act against this company for 3 years or more.

The details you hold of the Company Directors are also, in some
instances, more than 5 years out of date.

The Company Secretary claims to have recently resigned, but
apparently he has not bothered to file details of his resignation
either.

So please can I assume that, without further obfuscation and
delay... you will now prosecute Phorm Directors (many of whom are
UK nationals/UK residents) who have broken the law for the past 3
years or more without penalty?

Or are they exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else?

Yours sincerely,

P. John