Treasury – in the House of Commons at on 11 October 2022.
David Simmonds
Conservative, Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
What fiscal steps his Department is taking to encourage business innovation.
Richard Fuller
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury
The Government are encouraging business innovation in many ways, of which I will enumerate four. As I mentioned to my hon. Friend George Freeman, there is a significant uplift in R&D expenditure, with £150 million of innovation loans over the spending period, research and development tax relief, long-term investment in technology and science—a competition is providing up to £500 million in Government support—and the British Business Bank is supporting innovative businesses, including through the future fund.
David Simmonds
Conservative, Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
Owners and entrepreneurs behind small businesses such as Code Ninjas in Bridge Street in my Constituency are a key part of the Government’s growth agenda. What steps does my hon. Friend have in mind to enable such small and medium-sized enterprises to create further jobs and growth?
Richard Fuller
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury
I am not sure if I got the name quite correct. Was it Comms Ninjas?
Richard Fuller
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury
Oh, right. Perhaps I can visit my hon. Friend’s Constituency to learn what the company does.
More generally, the growth plan focuses on important measures to support small businesses that wish to grow, including by making the £1 million annual investment allowance permanent, by looking to expand the amount of money that can be given through the seed enterprise investment scheme to help small businesses to grow and, most importantly, through the Government’s energy price support this winter.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent