§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many insolvency petitions for(a) small and (b) medium enterprises were allocated to each official receivers office in England and Wales in the last 12 months. [144056]
§ Dr. HowellsIn the year to 30 November 2000, the Official Receiver acted in respect of 4,932 new company liquidations and 21,600 new bankruptcies, a total of 26,532 cases.
These cases are not categorised in terms of size of enterprise. The company cases and approximately 65 per cent. of the bankruptcy cases are business-related failures. The majority of these cases would have been small or medium enterprises.
The breakdown of these cases of Official Receivers' offices is as follows:
361W
Insolvency orders made between 1 December 1999 and 30 November 2000 Bankruptcy orders Company winding-up orders Total Anglia Region Cambridge 370 53 423 Ipswich 447 62 509 Northampton 527 104 631 Norwich 603 91 694 St Albans 639 187 826 Southend 593 182 775 Total 3,179 679 3,858
Insolvency orders made between 1 December 1999 and 30 November 2000 Bankruptcy orders Company winding-up orders Total London 1,274 1,055 2,329 Midlands Region Birmingham 1,225 340 1,565 Gloucester 425 80 505 Leicester 431 78 509 Nottingham 1,077 156 1,233 Total 3,158 654 3,812 North East Region Hull 810 95 905 Leeds 1,055 172 1,227 Newcastle 700 111 811 Sheffield 835 117 952 Stockton 458 61 519 Total 3,858 556 4,414 North West Region Blackpool 839 92 931 Chester 734 103 837 Liverpool 545 65 610 Manchester 1,110 285 1,375 Stoke 370 75 445 Total 3,598 600 4,198 South East Region Brighton 702 111 813 Canterbury 261 44 305 Croydon 854 328 1,182 Medway 326 108 434 Reading 627 195 822 Total 2,770 786 3,556 South West Region Bournemouth 306 80 386 Bristol 641 105 746 Cardiff 601 120 721 Exeter 580 41 621 Plymouth 682 68 750 Southampton 532 120 652 Swansea 421 68 489 Total 3,763 602 4,365 National Total 21,600 4,932 26,532