Value Added Tax

HC Deb 09 July 1987 vol 119 cc508-9

13. Mr. Fallon

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new companies registered for value added tax in 1986.

Mr. Brooke

I regret that records are maintained in a form which enables only the net change in the number of VAT registered persons of different status to be given. In 1986 the net increase in the number of companies registered for VAT was over 7,000 and total VAT registrations increased by some 23,000.

Mr. Fallon

Will my hon. Friend confirm that some 6,000 new companies were registered during 1986 in the north-east alone? Is this not the best possible testimony to the success of Government policies in the region and the surest possible way of creating new jobs in the north-east?

Mr. Brooke

Because Customs VAT areas—what in Customs terms we call collections—do not match the boundaries of the economic regions, it is difficult to give regional figures, but the Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Washington collections showed positive VAT registrations last year.