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 high street shops which have closed in (a) England and (b) Milton Keynes since 1 January 2008 (304485).
ONS does not have statistics on the number of high street shops. 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 the latest statistics available on business deaths for England and Milton Keynes. All counts are based on enterprises and not local units. Where a local unit closes but the enterprise continues to trade at other sites, a death will not be recorded in this data.
England Milton Keynes UA Retail 20,765 95 471 Retail sale in non-specialised stores 4,050 10 472 Retail sale of food; beverages and tobacco in specialised stores 3,190 10 473 Retail sale of automotive fuel in specialised stores 425 5 474 Retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores 570 5 475 Retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores 2,430 10 476 Retail sale of cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores 990 10 477 Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores 6,680 25 478 Retail sale via stalls and markets 250 0 479 Retail trade not in stores; stalls or markets 2,180 20