§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes have taken place in each of the past 15 years in the number of farming bankruptcies; what percentage such changes represented in each year of the total number of farmers; and what the percentage change in each year was. [154075]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 20 March 2001]Data on farming bankruptcies for England and Wales and what percentage of farmers, partners and directors this represents are given in the table (data solely on the number of farmer are not available). The last year for which bankruptcy figures are available for the whole year is 19991. Figures for the first three quarters of last year show a decrease in total farming bankruptcies of 10 per cent. on the same period in 1999.
1 Final quarter 2000 data will be available in May 2001
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Number of bankruptcies1 in the agricultural and horticultural sector: England and Wales 1986 to 2000 Percentage Year Total bankruptcies Bankruptcies as a proportion of farmers2 Annual change in bankruptcies 1986 258 0.1 +8 1987 298 0.1 +16 1988 236 0.1 -21 1989 220 0.1 -7 1990 309 0.1 +40 1991 401 0.2 +30 1992 504 0.2 +26 1993 434 0.2 -14 1994 397 0.2 -9 1995 317 0.1 -20 1996 257 0.1 -19 1997 206 0.1 -20
Number of bankruptcies1 in the agricultural and horticultural sector: England and Wales 1986 to 2000 Percentage Year Total bankruptcies Bankruptcies as a proportion of farmers2 Annual change in bankruptcies 1998 222 0.1 +8 1999 258 0.1 +16 2000 3181 — — 1 Includes bankruptcies of self-employed individuals and company insolvencies (Source: Department of Trade and Industry) 2 Includes directors and business partners who also work on farm holdings (Source: June Agricultural and Horticultural Census). Data from 1998 onwards are not comparable to those for earlier years due to fundamental changes to the labour questions in the Agricultural and Horticultural Census 3 First three quarters only