§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many bankruptcies of farmers there were in each year from 1990 to 1999; and what percentage this represented of the total number of farmers in England. [136592]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 6 November 2000]: Data on bankruptcies are available only for England and Wales combined, and are given in the table. Estimates of the number of farmers in England and Wales are not directly available. Instead, bankruptcies have been expressed as a proportion of the number of registered agricultural holdings.
Number of bankruptcies1 in the agricultural and horticultural sector: England and Wales 1990–99 Year Bankruptcies of self-employed individuals Company2 insolvencies Total Bankruptcies as a percentage of number of holdings3 1990 198 111 309 0.2 1991 266 135 401 0.2 1992 313 191 504 0.3 1993 277 157 434 0.2 1994 231 166 397 0.2 1995 218 99 317 0.2 1996 168 89 257 0.1 1997 155 51 206 0.1 1998 157 65 222 0.1 1999 149 75 224 0.1 1 Source: Department of Trade and Industry 2 Including partnerships 3 Source: June Agricultural and Horticultural Census