§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the regional variations in the number of(a) new businesses registering, (b) businesses trading on-line and (c) businesses with internet access in the United Kingdom. [98210]
§ Nigel Griffiths[holding answer 27 January 2003]: The information requested is set out in the tables
Enterprises registering for VAT and registration rates by country and region, 2001 Thousands Number per 10,000 resident adults United Kingdom 175.5 37 North East 4.1 20 North West 17.6 32 Yorkshire and the Humber 11.7 29 East Midlands 11.6 34 West Midlands 14.2 33 East of England 17.4 40 London 34.9 59 South East 28.4 44 South West 14.5 36 England 154.3 39 Wales 6.0 26 Scotland 11.5 28 Northern Ireland 3.6 28 Source: Small Business Service
UK Businesses trading online, by Region—per cent. (All businesses weighted by number of employees) Greater London 36 East of England 32 Scotland 29 North West 26 West Midlands 26 Wales 22 Northern Ireland 21 South East 20 Yorkshire and Humberside 20 East Midlands 19 South West 18 North East 15 Source:
DTI International Benchmarking Study 2002
2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 Accessing/handling inappropriate material 3 (3) 8 (4) 32 (0) 3 (0) 2 (0) Unauthorised access to or misuse of data 13 (0) 15 (0) 4 (0) 10 (0) 4 (0) The figures do not include incidents occurring within the Department's Executive Agencies.