Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of business failures due to uncertainty over the UK's departure from the EU in (a) the last two quarters of 2018-19 and (b) the first quarter of 2019-20; and if he will make an estimate of that number for the current quarter.

We are aware of issues faced by small businesses connected with leaving the EU, such as increasing costs due to sterling fluctuations, cash flow impacts and late payments by customers. Government is already in close engagement on these and more issues, both directly across the UK and through regular meetings with business representative organisations - the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), MakeUK, the British Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Directors and the CBI. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) also co-ordinates the EU Exit business readiness forum, attended by business intermediaries and representative organisations.

Regarding the failure of businesses due to uncertainty over exiting the EU, the following seasonally unadjusted figures show the absolute number of insolvencies as measured by the insolvency service for 2018 Q1 to 2019 Q1. The insolvencies listed are due to all causes, not just uncertainty, and the current UK rate of insolvency (ie: the number of insolvencies proportional to the number of active firms) remains low by historical standards – well below that seen around the time of the financial crisis.

ONS statistics on business demography (2018) show that the number of UK business births in 2017 was 414,000, a birth rate of 13.1%. The number of UK business deaths was 357,000 in 2017, a death rate of 12.2%.

Businesses that are unfortunately experiencing difficulties – including requiring advice on the business implications of leaving the EU – have immediate access to guidance through the Government’s network of 38 Growth Hubs in England, (and equivalent services in the devolved administrations), and via the Business Support Helpline.