§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many small businesses have been registered for value added tax in the Northern region for each year since 1983; and how many have been deregistered.
§ Mr. RyderRecords are not maintained by size of business or in such a way that will enable figures for the Northern region to be identified with precision. However, the local VAT offices at Carlisle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Washington and Middlesbrough cover an area bounded by Carlisle and Berwick in the north to Barrow and Scarborough in the south.
The numbers of VAT registrations and deregistrations processed by these offices in the years in question were:
522W
Year Registrations Deregistrations 1983 6,679 5,595 1984 6,664 5,859 1985 7,456 7,521 1986 7,745 7,343
Year Registrations Deregistrations 1987 7,926 6,648 1988 9,756 7,386 19891 7,803 5,821 1 to 30 September