§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new business start-ups there were in 2003 in(a) Essex and (b) Southend. [179333]
§ Nigel GriffithsBarclays Bank's latest survey of business creation includes non-VAT registered firms and shows that there were 115,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in the last quarter of 2003, including 500 business start-ups in Southend-on-Sea Unitary Authority and 3,000 within the County of Essex. The latest yearly figures show 465,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in 2003. This represents a 19 per cent. increase on the year before. Included in these figures are 2,000 business start-ups in Southend-on-Sea Unitary Authority and 12,300 in the County of Essex.
Barclays data for counties and local authorities are not available before 2003.
DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Southend-on-Sea Unitary Authority and the County of Essex are shown as follows for the period 2002. Data for 2003 will be available in autumn 2004.
VAT registrations: 2002 Number Southend-on-Sea UA 525 Essex 4,375 Source: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002, Small Business Service www.sbs.gov.uk/ analytical/statistics/vatstats php VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register 1228W will not necessarily have closed. Only 1.8 million out of 3.8 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2002.