To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the proportion of UK businesses which did not export to other European Union member states in the latest period for which figures are available. (181720)

Figures for the proportion of UK businesses which do not export to the European Union are not collected.

HM Revenue and Customs publish some data on the number of companies exporting goods to the European Union as part of their quarterly regional trade statistics. The Single Market removal of customs declarations in 1993 and the subsequent successful reduction of administrative and statistical burdens on businesses mean that those numbers exclude the vast majority of exporters to the EU as they do not have to complete the Intrastat survey form. Nor do the numbers include companies who export services.