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Business Start-ups

Answer

There is no statistical information available which can accurately record the total number of business start-ups as such. New VAT registrations can be used as a proxy for business start-ups, and these show that in 2004 there were 225 new registrations in the Tamworth district council area and 14,855 in the West Midlands. The Tamworth constituency covers a greater area than that of Tamworth district council but it has not been possible to quantify the number of start-up or VAT registrations at a constituency level as records are not maintained by constituency area.The Department of Trade and Industry sponsors the regional development agencies (RDAs) which are charged with the responsibility for the economic development of their regions and to work with partners to increase the sustainability of businesses and foster business start-ups. Advantage West Midlands supports a range of regional-level schemes and programmes that support start-ups including Mustard which exists to give new and young business start-ups the right kind of help when they need it the most. It is an initiative offering practical, hands-on expertise to high growth-potential new and young business start-ups in the West Midlands. Mustard is a unique private/public sector collaboration managed by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry and delivered by the region's Business Links and leading private sector consultancies.Advantage West Midlands has also established a suite of regional funds available to start-ups including the Early Growth Fund, the Growth Fund and Advantage Business Angels and created a searchable database of all public and private sector sources of finance in the region—www.westmidlandsfinance.com.The region's three high technology corridors are sites providing more incubation space for high value start-ups. For example, the Wolverhampton to Telford corridor has just completed work on the £5.5 million e-Innovation Centre in Telford, providing start-up premises and grow-on space for companies involved in high-technology businesses such as e-commerce and e-engineering.To create an enterprise culture in Tamworth and the West Midlands region in general, Advantage West Midlands has established the West Midlands Enterprise Board. One of the targets the Enterprise Board has set itself is increasing the number of self employed people in the region by 35,000 by 2010. To help achieve this, it has recommended reforming the business support network. The new reformed network will include in-depth, specialist support to a wide range of start-ups across the region and ensure that the various initiatives which are already in place to stimulate entrepreneurship and start up activity are effectively brought together to provide cohesive packages of support. Under the current business support regime Business Link Staffordshire has assisted 1,816 start-ups in the county during the period 1 January 2005 to 15 December 2005.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

37835; 440 c2325-6W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Business Government assistance New businesses Technology West Midlands Advantage West Midlands Tamworth

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk