To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector which have closed in each quarter since March 2008; and if he will make a statement. (302138)

I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what estimate has been made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry which have closed in each quarter since March 2008. (302138)

Quarterly data on the closure of enterprises are not available. However, annual statistics on business births, deaths and survival are available from the ONS release on Business Demography at www.statistics.gov.uk. The table below contains counts of enterprise deaths in manufacturing in 2008.