§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many successful bankruptcy notices have been served by his Department on individuals for each of the last 10 years in respect of unpaid national insurance contributions.
§ Dr. BoysonThe number of bankruptcy notices and subsequent bankruptcy petitions served on individuals during the last 10 years are as follows:
Bankruptcy notices Bankruptcy petitions 1974 1,430 499 1975 954 340 1976 364 159 1977 574 246 1978 408 231 1979 325 152 1980 211 122 1981 269 127 1982 330 124 1983 208 121 The majority of these cases is likely to relate to unpaid national insurance contributions debts but it would be disproportionately costly to try to establish precise figures for this or for the number of individuals who cleared their outstanding debts and thus avoided bankruptcy.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many successful winding-up petitions have been served by his Department on companies for each of the last 10 years in respect of unpaid national insurance contributions.
§ Dr. BoysonThe number of winding-up petitions and subsequent winding up orders served on companies in respect of unpaid national insurance contributions during the last 10 years are as follows:
51W
Winding-up petitions Winding-up orders * 1974 44 — 1975 46 — 1976 66 — 1977 101 — 1978 23 — 1979 27 12
Winding-up petitions Winding-up orders * 1980 18 15 1981 22 18 1982 61 45 1983 111 123 * Separate statistics for the number of winding-up orders covering the period 1974–1978 are not available. The number of winding-up orders issued each year does not match the number of petitions because there is a delay between the two processes. Details of the number of companies who settled their outstanding contributions debts in full could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Since April 1975, the bulk of class 1 national insurance contributions has been collected by the Inland Revenue which takes any necessary action to enforce payment along with PAYE income tax. An unidentifiable number of the winding-up petitions served on companies since that date by the Inland Revenue in respect of PAYE debts will therefore have included outstanding national insurance contributions.