§ Mr. Bowen Wellsasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many bankruptcies there have been in each of the last five years; and how many company registrations.
§ Mr. EyreFigures of company liquidations arising from insolvency and figures of bankruptcies of individuals and partnerships are given in table 1 of the article on insolvencies in England and Wales inBritish Business, 23 January 1981, page 178.
The 1980 total for England and Wales is 4,000 for bankruptcies plus deeds of arrangement and 6,876 for company liquidations—voluntary and compulsory. Figures of new company registrations up to 1979 can be found in Companies in 1979 and the 1980 total for England and Wales is 66,104. The two sets of company figures cannot be compared directly because there are closures of companies for reasons other than insolvency. New sole traders and partnerships registered in 1980 numbered 144,504, but as they have to register only if they intend to use names other than their own there is no comprehensive record of unincorporated businesses started.