HC Deb 23 June 2004 vol 422 cc1453-4W
Mr. Jenkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new businesses have started up in the parliamentary constituency of Tamworth since 1997. [179962]

Nigel Griffiths

Barclays 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 1,300 business start-ups in the county of Staffordshire (which includes Tamworth parliamentary constituency). 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. In 2003 there were 5,500 business start-ups in the county of Staffordshire.

Barclays data for the county of Staffordshire are not available before 2003 and data are not available for Tamworth parliamentary constituency separately.

DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Tamworth local authority and Lichfield local authority (which both contain parts of Tamworth parliamentary constituency) are shown in the following table for the period 1997 to 2002. Data for 2003 will be available in autumn 2004.

VAT registrations: 1997–2002
Tainworth Lichfield
1997 155 335
1998 185 340
1999 190 340
2000 170 345
2001 200 325
2002 215 330
Source:
Business Start–ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002, Small Business Service www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/analytical/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 will not necessarily have closed. Only 1.8 million out of 3.8 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2002.