The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 26 January 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how many small businesses started up in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent in each of the last 12 years (313506).
Annual statistics on business births, deaths and survival are available for 2002 onwards from the ONS release on Business Demography at
www.statistics.gov.uk
The table below contains the latest statistics available on business births for Kent county and Ashford by employment size band.
0-4 5-9 10-19 20+ Total 2002 Kent county 5,395 475 140 35 6,045 Ashford 485 50 20 5 560 2003 Kent county 5,435 515 165 30 6,145 Ashford 480 50 20 5 555 2004 Kent county 6,355 430 130 30 6,945 Ashford 575 50 10 0 635 2005 Kent county 5,925 410 110 25 6,470 Ashford 535 45 10 0 590 2006 Kent county 5,705 410 130 20 6,265 Ashford 580 35 5 0 620 2007 Kent county 6,200 425 135 25 6,785 Ashford 630 40 10 5 685 2008 Kent county 5,665 360 160 35 6,220 Ashford 585 35 20 5 645