Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
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.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
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.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many small businesses ceased to operate in the UK in the financial years (1) 2023–24, (2) 2024–25, and (3) 2025–26; and what assessment they have made of the reasons for these closures.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
Inter-Departmental Business Register data shows that the number of UK businesses that ceased operation between financial years 2023-24 and 2025-26 is as follows:
While business deaths 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 death rates are influenced by a range of factors, including business resilience and broader economic and financial conditions.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what platforms were considered for Companies House's identity verification service, and on what grounds GOV.UK One Login was selected.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Companies House sought invitations from service providers and conducted a robust assessment against critical success factors concerning user experience, value for money, affordability for users and viability of delivery.
GOV.UK One Login was selected because it satisfied these critical success factors and aligned with wider government priorities to utilise cross government verification solutions where possible to streamline access government services as set out below:
www.gov.uk/guidance/use-govuk-one-login
To ensure that all customers were able to access identity verification, a secondary route was put in place in the form of Authorised Company Service Providers (ACSPs).
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the GOV.UK One Login in-person Post Office option for Companies House's identity verification service.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Post Office option is provided under the GOV.UK One Login Service. Companies House understands Government Digital Service undertook a robust analysis to ensure the option achieved the same identity verification standard as other identity verification journeys within the GOV.UK One Login service.
Companies House works closely with the GOV.UK One Login team to monitor success rates through this route, along with sharing customer feedback and insight where relevant to improve the service.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of GOV.UK One Login for Companies House's identity verification service, and how many complaints have been received about it.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
On 8 April 2025 Companies House started a lengthy period of voluntary Identity Verification to assess the effectiveness of the solution before making Identity Verification mandatory from 18 November.
As of 9 December, 1.8 million people have successfully completed verification via GOV.UK One Login. Between 8 April and 9 December, Companies House received 355 official complaints regarding GOV.UK One Login. From September to November 2025, the period for which data is available of the Government Digital Service (GDS) received 75 complaints from Companies House customers using One Login to verify their identities.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the financial viability of running a small or medium-sized building company and (2) the main financial challenges of running a small or medium-sized building company.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Construction is a cyclical industry, and the financial viability of firms can be affected by a range of factors, including the state of the market, commercial negotiations in relation to contracts, liabilities incurred, and the price of wages, products and materials. Small firms in the construction supply chain are also vulnerable to late or non-payment, which is why the Government has taken steps to improve payment reporting, and is committed to publishing a consultation on legislative measures to ensure prompt and fair payment.