§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many registered small businesses there were in the United Kingdom, broken down by(a) category and (b) region in each year since 1990. [40820]
§ Nigel GriffithsI have been asked to reply.
The number of VAT registered businesses is the best available measure of the registered small business population. Most VAT registered businesses are small but the figures will include a small number of large business. Due to significant changes in the VAT threshold in 1991 and 19931 it is difficult to compare the 1994 to 2001 time series with previous data.
The figures have been placed in the Library.