§ Ms QuinTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the rate of small firm formation by standard planning region for each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Leigh[holding answer 22 April 1993]:The best indicator of regional trends in small business start-ups is given by figures on VAT registrations. Registration rates for the three most recent years are given in the table.
Registration rates1 (per cent.) Region 1989 1990 1991 South East 17 16 13 East Anglia 14 12 11 South West 14 12 11 West Midlands 15 13 11 East Midlands 15 13 12 Yorkshire and Humberside 15 13 12 North West 16 15 13 North 15 13 11 Wales 13 12 10 Scotland 14 14 12 Northern Ireland 8 8 7 United Kingdom 15 14 12 1 New registrations as a percentage of the stock of VAT registered businesses at the start of the year. Other estimates of regional start-ups are produced by Barclays Bank.
Their regions do not correspond to standard planning regions.
Estimates of business start-ups produced by Barclays Bank plc Region1 Starts in 1991 Starts in 1992 Greater London 101,000 98,000 Rest of South East 95,000 91,000 East Anglia 25,000 23,000 Midlands 63,000 58,000 South West 39,000 32,000 North and Yorkshire 43,000 44,000 North West 54,000 51,000 Wales 31,000 28,000 Scotland 34,000 30,000 Total 482,000 456,000 1 Regions do not correspond to standard planning regions.