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Business

Answer

Estimates of the total number of small¹ businesses from 2003 to 2008 in England and the South East of England are shown in the following table."¹ Small businesses are defined as private sector enterprises with fewer than 50 employees."

Start of year	England¹	Government office region for the South East of England¹
2003	3,450,675	677,725
2004²	n/a	n/a
2005	3,747,150	724,775
2006²	n/a	n/a
2007	4,032,400	736,110
2008³	4,105,355	764,230
n/a = Not available
¹ Enterprises that have sites in more than one region or country are counted here only in the area where they are registered.
² Prior to 2007 regional statistics were produced every two years.
³ The latest available data. Estimates of the number of businesses at the start of 2009 will be published in autumn 2010.
Source:
'Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Statistics for the UK and Regions'—Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

The number of businesses in England and the South East has increased by 19 per cent. and 13 per cent. respectively between the start of 2003 and 2008.Estimates of the total number of small businesses in the Lewes Constituency are not available. However, figures for the number of small registered businesses by parliamentary constituency are available at:"http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=933"However, these figures exclude small businesses that are too small to be registered for VAT and/or PAYE.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

501 c977W; 301284

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Business

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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