FOI release

FOI22/23-137 - How many insolvencies were there in SIC code 47730 in England and Wales in calendar year 2018 to date

Updated 30 May 2023

Our ref: FOI22/23-137

Date: 27th February 2023

Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

Thank you for your email of 1 February in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

“I’d be grateful if you could respond to the following question under freedom of information legislation.

1) How many insolvencies were there in SIC code 47730 (dispensing chemist in specialised stores) in England and Wales in calendar year 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to date (or financial year if that is how you put the data together)?”

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm that the agency holds the information that you have requested. I have provided data in Table 1 below, which shows the annual number of insolvencies in SIC code 47730 in England and Wales, between 2018 and 2022. Data for 2023 is not yet available.

Table 1: Number of insolvencies in SIC code 47730, by calendar year, England & Wales, 2018 to 2022

Year	Number of insolvencies (SIC code 47730)
2018	9
2019	7
2020	3
2021	2
2022	6

Under section 16 of the Act (Advice and Assistance) you may find it useful to note:

Compulsory liquidations in England and Wales are sourced from a live administration system managed by the Insolvency Service. The registration date for these is the court order date. All other insolvency procedures are sourced from Companies House, with the registration date being the date that an insolvency was registered at Companies House. Industry breakdowns have been presented in line with the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007). Compulsory liquidations data are recorded at a three-digit group level and not a five-digit class level. Where possible, this administrative data has been matched with Companies House data to produce a five-digit class level industry classification, but in some cases a five-digit class is not attainable. Only one compulsory liquidation in the relevant three-digit division level in 2018 could not be matched with Companies House data and therefore was unknown at the five-digit class level.

Companies with multiple insolvency procedures are included multiple times to give a full record of all registered insolvencies. Administrations which have directly resulted in a creditors’ voluntary liquidation are included only as administrations. Similar information for administrations converting to a compulsory liquidation or to a company voluntary arrangement is not available so these are counted as both insolvency procedures.

These statistics may not align with information published separately by Companies House, or with data extracted from the Gazette. Further information on why numbers may not align can be found in the Quarterly Statistics Methodology and Quality document.

Please note FOIA only applies to recorded information, it does not require public authorities to answer a question unless recorded information exists. Therefore, to answer a request FOIA does not oblige a public authority to create information if the requested information is not held.

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided you and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at foi@insolvency.gov.uk or by post at:

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service

3rd Floor

Cannon House

18 Priory Queensway

Birmingham

B4 6FD

United Kingdom

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service