Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the support offered by the Enterprise Investment Scheme to the independent film industry.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme is intended to incentivise investment in early-stage, entrepreneurial businesses seeking growth finance. The EIS is designed to apply equally across all qualifying businesses to prevent market distortions.

As such, there has been no assessment on the application of the EIS to specific industries or sectors. In 2018/19, 3,900 companies from a range of industries used EIS to raise over £1.9 billion of capital.

The Government recognises the valuable contribution of the film industry to the UK economy, which is why it also provides industry-specific support via the film tax relief. In 2018-19 alone, the film sector benefitted from over £595m worth of support, and 245 completed films had claimed film tax relief.