Business: Berkshire Mr. Rob Wilson To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate has been made of the number of small businesses which have closed in (a) Reading East constituency and (b) Berkshire in each year since 1997. Angela E. Smith 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 closed in (a) Reading East constituency and (b) Berkshire in each year since 1997. [324827] 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 deaths for Reading East and Berkshire. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |2002 |2003 |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Reading East |1— |1— |1— |528 |523 |496 |507 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former County of Berkshire |3,770|4,212|4,121|3,778|3,621|3,609|3,570| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bracknell Forest UA |445 |489 |509 |480 |459 |385 |434 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Reading UA |710 |701 |647 |630 |650 |595 |628 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Slough UA |485 |476 |507 |397 |401 |400 |381 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Berkshire UA |700 |810 |830 |722 |706 |751 |762 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Windsor and Maidenhead UA |775 |989 |848 |811 |708 |788 |760 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 Data not availableNotes:1. The former county of Berkshire is the area now covered by the Unitary Authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham, all created on 1 April 1998.2. A small business is defined as an enterprise with less than 50 employment| | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------