HC Deb 12 July 1990 vol 176 cc305-6W
Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give for 1989 the number of value added tax registrations and deregistrations upon which the net figure for the weekly increase in small businesses established was calculated in his answer to the hon. Member for Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin),Official Report, 5 June, column 458.

Mr. Nicholls

In 1989, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise processed approximately 262,000 registrations and 177,000 deregistrations. Although these are not fully comparable with the estimates published by my Department, they provided an early indication that the net rate of increase in 1989 was at least 1,500 a week.