§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total number and percentage of businesses in(a) Tamworth and (b) Staffordshire with between (i) 0–9 employees, (ii) 10–49 employees, (iii) 50–99 employees, (iv) 100–249 employees and (v) 250–500 employees; and how many people are employed in each size band. [13889]
§ Mrs. RocheThe information is not kept in the form requested by my hon. Friend. However, data from the Annual Employment Survey showing size band distributions of employment in Tamworth and in Staffordshire are set out in the tables. A unit does not correspond to the terms "firm, company" or; "business", by which employers are sometimes identified, but is roughly equivalent to a workplace.40W
Employment Size band Number of units Percentage of units Number of employees Percentage of employees Tamworth 1-10 501 60.8 1,999 10.4 11-49 222 26.9 4,987 26.0 50-99 55 6.7 3,850 20.1 100-199 35 4.2 4,634 24.2 200-499 9 1.1 2,543 13.3 500 or more 2 0.2 1,155 6.0 Total 824 100.0 19,168 100.0 Staffordshire 1-10 15,091 72.9 57,937 16.3 11-49 4,386 21.2 97,718 27.5 50-99 648 3.1 44,910 12.6 100-199 350 1.7 47,790 13.4 200-499 165 0.8 50,349 14.2 500 or more 49 0.2 57,065 16.0 Total 20,689 100.0 355,766 100.0
§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what research her Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the growth and barriers to growth of small businesses; and what her Department has identified as the main barriers. [13892]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Department has commissioned the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Business Research of the University of Cambridge and Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC), to carry out research on growth constraints on Small and Medium Firms.
Management and employee development and expertise was found to be the key to sustained growth over a period of several years.
Particular constraints were:
the level and depth of internal management capability and human resource development;internal resource management, particularly in relation to budgeting, costing, invoicing and payment procedures;the firm's management systems;insufficient awareness of the range of facilities of computer based IT systems as a cost/time saving management tool;the need to address skill shortages through effective training or recruitment;a too narrow customer/product base;the need for external providers of finance to be an enabling rather than constraining forces (as many firms in the study perceived them to be).