§ Mr. Nicholas Bennettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated number of farm bankruptcies in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) Scotland,(c)Wales, (d)England, (e)Northern Ireland, (f)Dyfed and (g)Pembrokeshire, in each of the years 1980 to 1986, inclusive.
§ Mr. MaudeI have been asked to reply.
The information that is available for the agriculture and horticulture industry is given in the table. I regret that no industrial analysis is available for sequestrations in Scotland (equivalent to bankruptcies) or for company 220W liquidations in Northern Ireland. No area analysis of company liquidations is available. For bankruptcies in England and Wales, although an area analysis of the total is available, there is no analysis of the area figures by industry.
Insolvencies in Agriculture and Horticulture 1980–1986 Number Bankruptcies1 Company liquidations2 England and Wales Northern Ireland England and Wales Scotland 1980 50 2 34 3 1981 70 11 56 8 1982 78 2 55 8 1983 98 9 74 5 1984 155 8 77 7 1985 3136 7 102 4 1986 n/a 9 128 6 1Bankruptcies are of unincorporated businesses classified to agriculture and horticulture, deeds of arrangement are included. 2Compulsory and creditors' voluntary liquidations. 3Discontinuity in serious because of changes to monetary limits on petitions.