§ Mr HobanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 24 October 2002,Official Report, column 429W, on small firms, what assessment he has made of the impact of the research and development tax credit for small firms. [80310]
§ Dawn PrimaroloBoth the research and development (R&D) tax credit for small or medium companies (SMEs) and the new R&D tax credit for large companies, introduced this year, are measures for the long term. At present we only have figures for the first year of the SME credit. However, in that first year, the response from small companies was good and all the signs are that interest is growing.