HC Deb 20 January 1993 vol 217 c310W
29. Mr. Stevenson

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many businesses have closed in the last 12 months in the west midlands and Stoke on Trent.

Mr. Needham

A regional breakdown of official insolvency statistics is not available. For compulsory liquidations and bankruptcy orders the only geographical information available is by the court in which the order was made. This is not a good basis for analysing company location, since many cases in England and Wales are dealt with in London regardless of the company's location, and work may be moved between courts according to differing workloads. There is no regional breakdown of creditors' voluntary liquidations.