Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will extend social investment tax relief to grassroots music venues.

Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) was introduced in the Finance Bill in 2014. It aims to incentivise individuals to invest in organisations (‘social enterprises’) whose trading activities seek to generate profit and bring social or community benefit.

Eligibility criteria and guidance on how to apply for the relief scheme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/venture-capital-schemes-apply-to-use-social-investment-tax-relief#trades.

Most profit seeking commercial trades qualify for the relief, and the criteria do not explicitly rule out grassroots music venues from receiving it. However, if your trade includes things like including property development or leasing activities, your enterprise may not qualify for SITR on the basis certain trades are often asset backed or have predictable or guaranteed revenue streams, making them lower risk. In turn, this could divert capital away from higher-risk enterprises that genuinely struggle to raise finance.

The Government keeps SITR under review in order to ensure it continues to meet its policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective.