§ Mr. David Nicholson (Taunton)I beg to move amendment No. 72, in page 53, line 15, at end add—
'(3) Where a company has been trading for a period of less than two years, subsection (1) and (4) above shall have effect as if for the amount there specified there were substituted £2 million.'I shall be brief in view of the time. First, I wish to make a point about the difficulty that larger start-up companies with a potentially low return on capital will have in raising money. Secondly, I wish to get a clearer idea of what the Treasury see as the future, if any, of the BES.One of the factors contributing to the Treasury's views has been the opinion of the Venture Capital Association that adequate financing exists from its members for start-up companies. In some respects that is unreliable and BES financiers believe that a certain number of projects fail to get venture capital, so never get off the ground. It would also be useful to know whether the Treasury will monitor this over the next year and, if so, how it intends to do so.
§ Mr. Norman LamontWe discussed this issue at length in Committee. One of my hon. Friends tabled a similar amendment and I explained that it was right that the BES should be targeted more on small companies and that there had been too much investment on asset-backed enterprises. That would be good for small businesses and the venture capital industry. There can be arguments over the precise figure. There is no science about that. But we shall monitor this because we are aware of all the schemes that go ahead and, if it is necessary, we shall alter this.
§ Mr. NicholsonI am most grateful to my right hon. Friend the Minister for explaining the Government's position on this and I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.