You asked
Please provide company names from micro-businesses (less than 15 or 10 employees) in the UK.
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request asking for a list of company names for micro businesses. Unfortunately we cannot supply information, such as company names, that will allow users to identify individual businesses.
Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act exempts information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under any enactment. Unfortunately, access to the Inter-Departmental Business Register is subject to a general prohibition on disclosure, under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 (STA).
I have attached a link to the UK Business: Activity, Size and Location publication for 2015. The datasets available with this publication allow you to filter the data by employment size bands (e.g. 0-4, 5-9, 10-19 etc.) These data can be cross tabled with legal status, industry and geography. You can use these datasets to produce aggregated counts of rounded data.
I have also included a link to information about our Virtual Microdata Laboratory (VML). This is a route for providing access to microdata for approved researchers working on defined and approved non-commercial projects, which serve the public good. However, this information would not include company names. This route would allow you to view certain microdata in a controlled environment whilst ensuring that any analysis results did not contain any sensitive information. The link below contains contact details for the VML should you wish to find out more information.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/paidservices/virtualmicrodatalaboratoryvml