Chamber and committees

Progress towards meeting environmental performance targets is detailed in the Scottish Government Environmental Performance Annual Report for 2007-08, which was published in May 2009, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 48458).

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26185 on 19 August 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold individualised data on any crimes or offences recorded by the eight police forces in Scotland, and as such does not hold information on the victims of crimes or the location at which the crime took place. It is not therefore possible to identify the number of offences on public transport recorded by Lothian and Borders Police, in each of the last three years.

The information requested is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally.

The Annual Population Survey is the official source for data on people not in education, employment or training. The table below shows the estimates from the survey of the numbers of people aged 16 to 19 not in education, employment or training in the Lothians region, for the years 2003-08. It has not been possible to break down these estimates by local authority area because the sample sizes in each of the local authorities are too small to provide reliable estimates.

Prior to 2003, the source is the Labour Force Survey. The sample sizes from this survey are too small to provide any reliable estimates for the Lothians region.

Number of People Aged 16 to 19 Not in Education, Employment or Training, Lothians, 2003-08

Year	Level
2003	3,800
2004	3,300
2005	*
2006	3,300
2007	3,200
2008	5,100

Source: Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2003, Annual Population Survey 2004 to 2008.

Notes:

* Data withheld as unreliable.

1. Estimates are rounded to nearest hundred.

2. The survey sample sizes for these estimates are small, hence the estimates are subject to a high amount of sampling error.

The number of VAT registrations are used to monitor the number of business start-ups. However, please note that these figures do not account for all business activity as only companies with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

Data on the number of VAT registrations are released annually by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The latest available data refer to all VAT registrations taking place in the UK in 2007.

The following table shows VAT registrations per 10,000 resident adults in Scotland and the UK as a whole from 2003 to 2007:

Vat Registrations (per 10,000 population)	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Scotland	29	29	28	28	35
UK	40	38	37	37	42

Source: BIS.

The registration figures for 2007 are the highest since the series began in 1994. It is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies.

Data on the number of VAT registrations are released annually by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). These figures are used to monitor the number of business start-ups. The latest available data refer to all VAT registrations taking place in the UK in 2007, the results for 2008 will be published in November 2009.

In 2007 there were 14,595 new VAT registrations in Scotland.

Please note that this figure does not account for all business activity as only companies with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

The registration figures for 2007 are the highest since the series began in 1994. It is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies.

Analysis to determine the impact of the changes to tax legislation on the number of business start-ups has not been published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The registration figures for 2007 are the highest since the series began in 1994. It is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies.

The Scottish Government is pursuing this issue with ONS, which has recently taken over the publication of the business births series.

The number of VAT registrations are used to monitor the number of business start-ups. However, please note that these figures do not account for all business activity as only companies with a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

Data on the number of VAT registrations are released annually by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The latest available data refer to all VAT registrations taking place in the UK in 2007, the results for 2008 will be published in November 2009.

In 2007 there were 14,595 new VAT registrations in Scotland, while in the UK as a whole there were 205,725. Full-time series results for Scotland and the UK are available at:

http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat/.

The registration figures for 2007 are the highest since the series began in 1994. It is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies.