Minister's 'delight' at SME statistics

Small Business and Enterprise Minister Nigel Griffiths hailed a 200,000 net increase in the business population as an indication of the Government's commitment to small businesses.

He claimed that new figures published by the DTI's Small Business Service (SBS), show there was a net increase of around 200,000 firms operating in the UK in 2003 compared to the previous year - equivalent to over 500 new businesses starting up every day.

According to new statistics the business population totalled four million last year, compared to 3.8 million in the year 2002.

Welcoming the figures, Nigel Griffiths, said: "Small and medium-sized businesses are the engine room of the UK economy.

"They account for 99.8 per cent of the business population, employ over 12.6 million people and contribute more than £1 trillion in turnover. I am delighted that the sector is growing as a whole and that an unprecedented number of new businesses have been set up.

"This growth bears out the Government's commitment to the small business sector, through the Small Business Service providing a strong voice for small firms within Government to Business Links providing quality support and advice to enable firms to expand."

"The findings also reflect the findings of the last Barclays survey of business start-ups published in April which indicate that more businesses started last year than at any time since Barclays launched its survey in 1988.

"I want to build upon this success by delivering on the Government's Small Business Action Plan and continuing to listen to the needs of entrepreneurs across the country."