To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of independent retailers which have been put out of business as a result of competition from VAT- free websites; and if he will make a statement. (114052)

The information requested is not held centrally.

Causes of failure for all bankruptcy orders and company compulsory liquidations in England and Wales are being captured electronically for all new cases from October 2006, however the classification being used is not sufficiently detailed to identify “competition from VAT-free websites” as a cause.

The industry classification of bankruptcy and company liquidation cases identifies sub-groups of the retail sector, but not their status in terms of whether they are independent retailers.

The Insolvency Service publishes quarterly statistics on insolvencies; the latest are for quarter 3 2006 and may be viewed here:

http://www.insolvencygov.uk/otherinformiation/statistics/insolv.htm