Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to make a comparative assessment of the support available to social businesses compared with for-profit businesses.

The Government keeps all taxes and reliefs under review to ensure that they continue to meet policy objectives and represent value for money for taxpayers.

In 2019, the Government comprehensively reviewed the Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR), in line with commitments made when SITR was enlarged in 2017.

As part of this review, the Government published a Call for Evidence in April 2019, which ran for 12 weeks.

The Call for Evidence examined SITR’s effectiveness at incentivising individuals to invest in social enterprises, and its impact on the social investment and enterprise markets. A list of questions asked in the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/social-investment-tax-relief-call-for-evidence/social-investment-tax-relief-call-for-evidence.

The Call for Evidence received responses and evidence from a range of interested parties, including social enterprises, charities, community businesses, investors, and intermediaries.

A Summary of Responses to the Call for Evidence will be published in due course.