Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 3
Ninth Report - UK plc
Published 24 Mar 2023
Paragraph 19
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee UK plc 2050 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Whilst we recognise some of the challenges associated with the previous R&D tax credits scheme, we call on the Government to conduct an annual review of the impact of recent changes on overall R&D investment in the UK to ensure that any unintended consequences can be remedied quickly.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Ninth Report - UK plc (HC 1120), paragraph 19, 24 March 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 September 2023 (deadline 23 May 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government's response to the UK plc report mostly sets out existing and planned policy on R&D reliefs, skills, regional productivity and regulation, and expressly agrees on engagement with business over regulation.
- On R&D tax reliefs, the Government says the review is "ongoing" and it "has not yet taken a decision on whether to merge schemes", but "intends to keep open the option of doing so from 2024", with a decision at the next fiscal event.
- On green skills, the Government points to the Green Jobs Delivery Group, established in 2022, and says Government and industry will create a Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan "for publication in 2024".
- On impact assessments, the Government is "committed" to publishing them "where appropriate" and says a reformed Better Regulation Framework will launch "later this summer". Partnerships between industry and Government on specific regulations "should be considered on a case-by-case basis".
- Asked whether it has an industrial strategy, the Government does not directly answer, but says delivering growth in key sectors is a priority and names five growth sectors identified by the Chancellor.