§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies were put into receivership or liquidation at the suit of(a) the Inland Revenue and (b) Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in (i) 1994–95, (ii) 1995–96, (iii) 1996–97, (iv) 1997–98 and (v) 1998–99. [90294]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 8 July 1999]: The following figures show the number of company liquidations in England and Wales on Inland Revenue and 81W HM Customs and Excise petitions, and also show those numbers as a proportion of the total number of company liquidations. Receiverships usually result from actions by debenture holders, and neither the Inland Revenue nor Customs take such actions.
Year Inland Revenue Percentage of total liquidations HM Percentage Customs and Excise Percentage of total liquidations 1994–95 761 5 2,409 15 1995–96 646 4.5 2,121 15 1996–97 625 5 2,120 16 1997–98 438 3.5 1,785 14 1998–99 519 4 11,399 10 1 Latest available figure