§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many bankruptcies were registered by the Insolvency Service for each year since 1986 for(a) the United Kingdom and (b) each standard region; and if he will express these figures as a proportion of the total numbers of enterprises in each case.
§ Mr. Neil HamiltonDetails of the number of company and personal insolvencies are compiled for England arid Wales as a whole, and for Northern Ireland and Scotland. This information is given in the table. However, it should be noted that a minority of personal bankruptcies do not relate to the failure of enterprises. No regional breakdown of insolvencies in England and Wales is available.
Estimates of the number of enterprises are made by DTI for the United Kingdom as a whole. None was made in 1987, and 1992 figures are not yet available. The table gives these data and expresses the number of insolvencies as a proportion of the number of enterprises. No breakdown of the number of enterprises below United Kingdom level is available.
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Insolvencies of Enterprises in the United Kingdom United Kingdom enterprises (000s) England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Total United Kingdom insolvencies Per cent. Insolvencies (1) (2) (1) (3) (1) (2) 1986 2,481 14,405 7,093 511 437 132 193 22,771 0–92 1987 n/a 11,439 6,994 456 808 165 135 19,997 n/a 1988 2,806 9,427 7,717 396 1,401 116 162 19,219 0.68 1989 2,888 10,456 8,138 428 2.301 144 238 21,705 0.75 1990 2,834 15,051 12,058 470 4,350 128 286 32,343 1.14 1991 2,696 21,827 22,632 616 7,665 181 366 53,287 1.98 1992 n/a 24,425 32,106 670 10,845 173 404 68,623 n/a (1) Company compulsory liquidations and creditors' voluntary liquidations. (2) Individual bankruptcy orders. Note that a minority of personal bankruptcies do not relate to insolvencies of enterprises. (3) Sequestrations (equivalent in Scottish law to bankruptcy orders).