Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many SMEs claiming R&D tax credits have R&D expenditure between 25 percent and 39 percent of their total expenditure.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
To support those most impacted by the Research and Development (R&D) tax relief rate changes announced at Autumn Statement 2022, the additional tax relief for R&D intensive SMEs announced at Spring Budget 2023 is targeted specifically at loss-making R&D intensive SMEs, who are most affected by the changes.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.100 of the Spring Budget Report 2023, HC1183, published in March 2023, what the evidential basis is for the adequacy of £10 million funding in the MHRA achieving the objective of having a fully operational approval process in place from 2024.
Answered by John Glen
£10m over 2 years represents a significant increase in the funding MHRA receives from government. This funding, along with proposals to make greater use of international recognition, was based on extensive work by the MHRA and detailed discussions with HMT. It will ensure MHRA is able to implement swift new approvals processes from next year.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.114 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, published on 15 March 2023, what estimate he has made of the regional breakdown of the £3 billion investment in British Patient Capital.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The extension of the British Patient Capital (BPC) programme until 2033-34 will be delivered in line with the British Business Bank’s (BBB’s) and BPC’s existing mandate.
The British Business Bank has an objective to identify and help to reduce imbalances in access to finance for smaller businesses across the UK.
To do this, it is important that the BBB deploys the right mix of programmes and interventions to meet the needs of businesses across the UK with different financing needs. Key programmes to tackle the structural barriers in regional access to finance include the Regional Angels Programme to reduce imbalances for early stage equity finance for smaller businesses. Spending Review 2021 also announced £1.6bn for the next generation of regional funds across the UK.
In 2021/22, the Bank exceeded its regional deployment target, deploying more than £900 million of finance outside London and supporting almost 83,000 businesses outside London at the end of March 2022.
British Patient Capital invests in venture and growth capital, supporting the growth of the UK’s innovative companies wherever they are in the UK. As of June 2022, British Patient Capital commitments (including by third parties) totalled over £10.7bn.
BPC invests on a fully commercial basis to maximise returns and manage risk. It will continue to do so through its extension to 2033-34, while increasing its focus on the most R&D intensive companies across the UK.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any (a) team in his Department, (b) Executive agency and (c) other public body had responsibility for assessing the (i) sustainability and (ii) viability of Silicon Valley Bank UK's (A) capital structure and (B) exposure to risk when it was granted a banking licence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Authorisation decisions are for the independent regulators to comment on. The operationally independent Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for the supervision of financial institutions operating in the UK.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data his Department holds on the number of companies which banked with Silicon Valley Bank UK; and whether there were requirements on Silicon Valley Bank UK to diversify its deposit holders.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for the supervision of financial institutions operating in the UK.
UK prudential standards, including those on concentration risk are derived from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) – the international standard setter. On a firm-by-firm basis, the UK regulatory framework allows the PRA to require firms to hold additional capital where their exposures are concentrated on specific activities and are not well diversified.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.100 of the Spring Budget Report 2023, HC1183, published in March 2023, how the £10 million funding will be spent within the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to increase agency capabilities; and what budget that funding will come from.
Answered by John Glen
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will spend the £10m new funding committed at Spring Budget to ensure it has the resources, talent, and infrastructure it needs to deliver the ambitious vision set out by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.52 of the Spring Budget 2023, published on 15 March 2023, HC 1183, whether his Department plans to provide at least 12 months' notice before any research and development tax credit scheme merger.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As stated in the consultation on merging the research and development R&D tax schemes published on 13 January 2023, it is currently the Government’s intention that, if implemented, the new scheme will be in place for expenditure incurred from 1 April 2024. In order to keep open the option of a merged scheme, the government will publish a summary of responses to the consultation and draft legislation in the Summer.
Any further changes as a part of the ongoing R&D tax reliefs review will be announced at a future fiscal event, including a final decision on whether to merge the R&D expenditure credit and SME schemes.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference of paragraph 4.51 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what estimate his Department has made of how many small and medium-sized enterprises in each region are eligible for additional tax relief for Research and Development intensive small and medium-sized enterprises ..
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government expects that around 20,000 SMEs per year across the UK will benefit from the additional tax relief for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs that was announced at Spring Budget.
HMRC publish annual statistics on the regional distribution of R&D tax credit claims by the company’s registered address (the registered address may not be where actual R&D activity is carried out) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/corporate-tax-research-and-development-tax-credit
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget, HC 1183, how much funding has been allocated for participation in Horizon Europe in the next three years; and whether the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will be responsible for this funding.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Following the recent Machinery of Government changes, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has responsibility for the funding set aside at Spending Review 2021 for association to Horizon Europe, subject to clarity on UK association to EU programmes on fair and reasonable terms.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Financial Statement of 15 March, what the evidential basis is for Research and Development tax credit changes helping 20,000 cutting-edge companies.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government recognises the value of R&D intensive SMEs to the UK’s wider innovation ecosystem, and at Autumn Statement 2022 committed to working with industry ahead of Budget to understand whether further support is necessary for R&D intensive SMEs.
It is the most R&D intensive loss-making companies that are most affected by the AS22 rate changes, and which the additional tax relief is seeking to target.
The Government has estimated around 20,000 SMEs will benefit from this scheme per year. This estimate and the estimated cost of the measure are based on HMRC administrative data. The costing has been independently certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility and the process to calculate the costing can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/Government /uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1142824/Costing_Document_-_Spring_Budget_2023.pdf
Further detail on the economic impact of the scheme will be published in the tax information and impact note ahead of being legislated for in an upcoming Finance Bill, in the usual way.
The Government will keep the scheme design under review to ensure it is effective and delivering value for money.