HC Deb 06 February 2004 vol 417 cc1092-3W
Malcolm Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many company insolvencies there have been since 1997, broken down by region and industry. [152009]

Mr. Sutcliffe

Table 1 records the number of company compulsory liquidations by region classified according to groupings of Official Receivers' Offices from 1999 to 2002 and the first three quarters of 2003. Statistics have not been provided prior to 1999 because of boundary changes.

Table 2 records total company insolvencies by industry from 1997 to 2002 and the first two quarters of 2003.

Company insolvencies consist of company compulsory liquidations and creditors voluntary liquidations. Only compulsory liquidations are available on a regional basis whereas the industrial analyses are available for total company insolvencies, but creditors voluntary liquidations cannot be separately identified.

Table 2: Total company insolvencies in England and Wales—Industrial analysis
2003
Industry 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Q1 Q2
Retailing
Food, drink and tobacco 219 186 193 200 114 132 45 46
Motor vehicles and filling stations 132 120 142 141 172 174 20 16
Other 891 847 919 853 833 902 165 132
Services
Insurance 111 101 118 57 28 35 13 9
Other financial and business services 1,528 1,617 1,831 1,605 1,618 3,215 1068 955
Hotels and Catering 609 626 562 530 538 740 177 126
Others 4,102 4,756 5,273 5,772 6,545 5,179 849 868
Total 12,610 13,203 14,280 14,317 14,972 16,305 3,797 3,767