Cathy Jamieson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 160W, on venture capital, what steps he has taken to support crowdfunding and peer-to-peer (a) lending to and (b) investment in small businesses; and if he will assess the value of such forms of finance to the small and medium-size sector.

Andrea Leadsom

Crowdfunding and peer to peer lending are innovative new forms of finance that support competition in the business lending sector.

The Government has taken a number of steps to support their growth, including bringing peer to peer lending within the scope of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and announcing that the range of products that can be held in stocks and shares ISAs will be expanded to include loans made through peer to peer platforms.

The Government also operates two tax-advantaged venture capital schemes which are used by equity crowdfunding investors; the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

The Government has not made any assessment of the value of investment in small and medium sized businesses from peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platforms.