§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Minister for Trade how many businesses have gone bankrupt in north Staffordshire since 1979; and if he will categorise them according to whether they employed (a) more than 100, (b) between 20 and 100, or (c) less than 20 employees.
§ Dr. VaughanI regret that there are no official figures available for company liquidations by area within England and Wales.
The nearest available information on bankruptcies in north Staffordshire is the number of net cases administered by the county court at Stoke-on-Trent, which was 173 in the four years 1979 to 1982. This figure covers all individuals and partnerships and separate details of unincorporated businesses—including their numbers of employees — are not available centrally. For England and Wales as a whole, unincorporated businesses account for between 75 and 80 per cent. of total bankruptcies.