To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many small businesses have (a) closed and (b) opened in (i) Cardiff Central constituency and (ii) Cardiff in each of the last five years. (325320)

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

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 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 have (a) closed and (b) opened in (i) Cardiff Central constituency and (ii) Cardiff in each of the last five years. [325320]

Annual statistics on business births, deaths and survival are available from the ONS release on Business Demography at:

www.statistics.gov.uk

Information on the number of enterprise deaths by parliamentary constituency is only available from 2005 onwards. The table below contains the latest statistics available on small enterprise birth and deaths in Cardiff over the past five years.