§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many small businesses were established in 1989, by region.
§ Mr. EggarThe latest available information, based on VAT data, is for 1988 and is given in the table. However, early indications from data collected by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise are that there was a net increase in 1989 in the United Kingdom as a whole of 1,500 a week on average, compared with 1,200 a week in 1988.
Value added tax registrations, deregistrations and net change in 1988 Registrations (thousand) Deregistrations (thousand) Net change (per cent.) South East 91 61 6 East Anglia 9 6 4 South West 22 15 5 West Midlands 19 14 4 East Midlands 15 11 4 Yorkshire and Humberside 17 13 4 North West 21 18 2 North 8 7 2 Wales 11 8 4 Scotland 14 11 3 Northern Ireland 3 3 2 United Kingdom 230 166 4