Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Big Society Capital charging 5.5 per cent interest to social investment intermediaries.
Social investment funds are independently regulated, and subject to their own respective due diligence processes, target market and risk and return objectives. Any losses are assessed and accounted for within their own governance, reporting and risk management processes. The government has made no independent assessment of the number of competing funds and the gains/losses made.
Big Society Capital operates independently from government and sets what it considers to be an appropriate interest rate.
Government has not been made aware of any evidence of mis selling to charities and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Individual social investment vehicles measure and publish their own impact assessments based on the specific geography and nature of investments made.