§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to his reply dated 15 December 1983, Official Report, c. 539, concerning imports and exports of mechanical engineering products, whether he will provide similar figures for non-European Economic Community countries and both sets of figures in terms of 1983 prices.
§ Mr. ChannonInformation in terms of 1983 prices is not available. The figures requested at current prices are given in the following table.
Area Bankruptcies* Company Liquidations 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1983 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1983 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1983 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1983 England and Wales 25,389 7,000 45,511 13,421 England 15,811† 4,690‡ not available║ not available║ Wales l,074† 321‡ not available║ not available║ Scotland 932 282 2,080 522 Northern Ireland 328 102 438 110 * Bankruptcies cover all individuals and partnerships. For England and Wales as a whole unincorporated businesses account for between 75 and 80 per cent, of total bankruptcies. † 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1982 only. Separate figures for England and England and Wales excluding Deeds of Arrangement and making allowance for rescissions and consolidations. ‡ 1 January 1983 to 30 September 1983 only. Separate figures for England and Wales excluding Deeds of Arrangement but before deduction of rescissions and consolidations, which are only available annually. ║ The only official figures available for company liquidations are for England and Wales as a whole. It would not be possible, without considerable expense, to analyse the records of companies registered in England and Wales, kept by the Registrar of Companies at Cardiff. In any case, the address of the registered office is not always a good indication of the location of trading activities.