162.— (1) The Insolvency Service shall establish and maintain a register to be known as the Register of Personal Insolvency Practitioners.

(2) The Register shall be in such form as the Insolvency Service deems appropriate and shall—

(a) contain the names of personal insolvency practitioners and such other identifying particulars as the Insolvency Service considers appropriate, and

(b) contain such other entries in respect of personal insolvency practitioners (including personal insolvency practitioners whose authorisation is suspended) as the Insolvency Service considers appropriate.

(3) The Insolvency Service shall make the Register available for inspection by members of the public on its website.

(4) A copy of an entry in the Register shall, on request, be issued by the Insolvency Service on payment of such fee (if any) as may be prescribed.

(5) In any legal proceedings, a certificate signed by the Director, or a member of the staff of the Insolvency Service authorised by the Director to give a certificate under this subsection, stating that a person—

(a) is registered in the Register,

(b) is not registered in the Register,

(c) was at a specified date or during a specified period registered in the Register,

(d) was not, at a specified date or during a specified period, registered in the Register or was suspended from the Register at that time, or

(e) has never been registered in the Register,

shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate or that the person was the Director or a member of the staff of the Insolvency Service so authorised, as the case may be, be evidence, unless the contrary is proved, of the matters stated in the certificate.

(6) The Insolvency Service shall ensure that the Register is accurate and, for that purpose, the Insolvency Service shall make any alteration requiring to be made in the information contained in an entry.

(7) The Insolvency Service shall, as soon as is practicable after doing anything under subsection (6), give notice in writing of that fact to the personal insolvency practitioner to whom the alteration relates.

(8) A personal insolvency practitioner to whom an entry in the Register relates shall give notice in writing to the Insolvency Service of—

(a) any error that the person knows of in the entry, and

(b) any change in circumstances that is likely to have a bearing on the accuracy of the entry,

as soon as may be after the person becomes aware of that error or change in circumstances, as the case may be.