To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many small and medium sized enterprises have been incorporated since 1997; and how many of these companies no longer trade owing to insolvency. [115084]

Companies House publishes data on new incorporations. However there is no information on the size breakdown of incorporations. The number of incorporations each financial year since 1997 is shown as follows.

Number of Incorporations from Companies House Records
Financial year	£000
1997–98	205.3
1998–99	215.2
1999–2000	225.6
2000–01	238.3
2001–02	225.5
Total 1997–02	1,109.9
Source:
Companies in 2001–02, Companies House

Official insolvency statistics do not identify the year of incorporation of the insolvencies, nor categorise them according to business size

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what actions she plans to take to address the difficulties faced by small and medium sized enterprises in obtaining public sector contracts identified by the Better Regulation Task Force and Small Business Council, with particular reference to (a) payment practices, (b) bundling or aggregation of contracts and framework agreements, (c) degree of openness about lower value contract opportunities and (d) pre-qualification processes that demand a large amount of information with each tender. [115275]

My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has agreed to provide a cross Government response on 4 August.