Measuring business activity in the UK

Abstract

Extract: Since small businesses and enterprise were ‘discovered’ by public policy in the UK during the 1960s, commencing in earnest with the publication of the Bolton Committee (1971) report, there has been considerable official interest in this form of economic activity. The Conservative Government from 1979 to 1997 initially saw enterprise as a strategy for job creation but later switched to a focus on growth. The Labour Government after 1997 continued this ‘cross-party’ support, although it placed greater weight upon the potential role of enterprise to address wider issues of ‘social inclusion’, e.g. HM Treasury (1999), than its predecessor government. The election of a Conservative-led coalition in 2010, faced with a challenging macro-economic environment, meant that once again small businesses and enterprise creation were seen as playing a critical role in a UK economy seeking to emerge from recession (Greene, 2002; Greene et al., 2008).