§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps have been taken to improve information, statistics, and monitoring of the general state of the small business sector since the publication of the Bolton Report in 1971.
Mr. Alan WilliamsFollowing a recommendation of the Bolton Committee, the Department's Small Firms Division, has, as one of its main responsibilities, the examination of all available information with a view to monitoring the state of the small firms sector. The need to limit the burden of form filling of course inhibits improvement to statistics of small firms. However, the new system of retailing statistics now being developed will yield annual estimates for small firms with a lower burden of form filling on them than the previous system of five-yearly estimates. Also results relating to small firms from the new sequence of annual censuses of production have been published since 1971. More comprehensive information may ultimately become available from material, derived from the administration of value added tax, which is provided to the Business Statistics Office under Section 55 of the 1973 Finance Act for the development of a Central Register of Businesses.
§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what new information has become available since the publication of the Bolton Report (Command Paper No. 4418) on the "five symptoms of ill-health" in the small business sector, about lack of new entrants, ageing of the small firm population, over concentration, rate of business failure and too few high fliers.
Mr. Alan WilliamsSuch information as can be obtained from existing sources on the five symptoms forms part of the general body of statistical and other information which is drawn on to monitor the state of the small firms sector and it would be not be meaningful to consider it in isolation.
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§ Mr. Geraint Howellsasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish details of public funds given to important services, which are wholly or mainly financed by Government and which are mainly intended for, or used by, small firms.
Mr. Alan WilliamsThe only such service currently provided by my Department is the Small Firms Information Service, and the most recent cost figures for this were provided by my hon. Friend the then Minister of State, Department of Industry, on 3rd February in answer to a Question from the hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Shersby).—[Vol. 904, c.543.]—Small firms can, of course, also make use of a wide range of more general services provided by the Government and my hon. Friend announced new schemes for the sector, on which no expenditure has yet been incurred, on 14th April 1976 in answer to a Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Robinson) — [Vol. 909, c.600–1.]—In rural areas under the auspices of the Department of the Environment, the Development Commissioners and the Council for Small Industries in Rural Areas provide factories for and financial and other assistance to certain small firms; over £4.5 million was provided for this purpose in 1975–76.