Written question asked by Lord Mawson (Crossbench) on Monday, 1 June 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 June 2026. It was answered by Lord Stockwood (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 June 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.
New Businesses
- Question
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To ask His Majesty's Government whether there was an increase or a decrease in the number of small business start-ups in 2025–26; and what assessment they have made of the reasons for any change.
- Answer
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Inter-Departmental Business Register data indicates a 3% fall in UK business start-ups between financial years 2024-25 (308,700) and 2025-26 (298,655).
While business births data is not available by business size, the UK business population is overwhelmingly composed of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), accounting for 99.9% of firms.
Business start-up rates are influenced by a range of factors, including levels of entrepreneurial activity, the policy and regulatory environment, and broader economic conditions.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL492
- Session
- 2026-27
- Subjects
- New businesses
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-06-16 12:20:48 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL492
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL492
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2026-27/HL492