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Small Businesses: South East

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many small and medium-sized enterprises there were in (a) Southampton, (b) Test Valley Borough, (c) Eastleigh Borough and (d) Romsey constituency in each of the last five years. (243917)

Estimates of the number of small to medium-sized enterprises are not available below the regional level in each of the last five years.

Only data for businesses of all sizes registered for VAT are published by BERR. It is estimated that the majority (97.9 per cent.) of these will be small (with fewer than 50 employees) and a further 1.7 per cent. will be medium-sized (with 50 to 249 employees).

The number of businesses registered for VAT in Southampton Unitary Authority, Test Valley and Eastleigh local authorities and Romsey constituency for the start of 2004 to the start of 2008 is shown in the following table.

Start of year stock of VAT-registered businesses, 2004-08

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Southampton Unitary Authority

4,770

4,845

4,945

4,990

5,070

Eastleigh

3,970

4,095

4,195

4,300

4,465

Test Valley

4,550

4,660

4,715

4,765

4,895

Romsey Parliamentary Constituency

3,575

3,630

3,650

3,685

3,755

Source:

BERR National Statistics publication ‘Business start-ups and closures: VAT registrations and de-registrations 2007’ available at:

http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat/index.htm

The number of VAT-registered businesses in Southampton Unitary Authority rose from 4,770 at the start of 2004 to 5,070 at the start of 2008.

The number of VAT-registered businesses in Eastleigh rose from 3,970 at the start of 2004 to 4,465 at the start of 2008.

The number of VAT-registered businesses in Test Valley rose from 4,550 at the start of 2004 to 4,895 at the start of 2008.

The number of VAT-registered businesses in Romsey parliamentary constituency rose from 3,575 at the start of 2004 to 3,755 at the start of 2008.

VAT registrations do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which was £64,000 at the start of 2007. Only 1.96 million out of 4.7 million UK enterprises (42 per cent.) were registered for VAT at the start of 2007.