Clause 14 - Income tax deduction for payments to organisations
Finance Bill
6:30 pm
Ivan Lewis (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Bury South, Labour)
To respond directly to the hon. Gentleman's argument, there is consensus on the desirability of incentivising investment in science. This part of the Bill is designed to align the rules with our tax credits with which we are incentivising that investment.
The hon. Gentleman asked for a definition of scientific research organisations. I understand that there are only nine SROs in the country. Historically, the Department of Trade and Industry has been responsible for them and we do not believe that it would be possible or desirable to be prescriptive about their definition at this stage in their development. Because the number of those organisations is relatively small, so we are anxious to consult them in some detail to ensure that we get the regulations absolutely right. We therefore did not think that it was appropriate in the Bill to be prescriptive in our definition.
Mr. Field rose—