§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he will investigate the possibility of revising the present conditions of the business expansion scheme to enable the scheme to play a more effective part in attracting capital investment into British feature film production business;
(2) what is his policy towards fiscal incentives for the British film production industry, in the light of the report from the British Film and Television Producers Association, of which he has been supplied with a copy, setting out the tax allowances and other fiscal incentives available to the film industry in other countries.
§ Mr. Dormandasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will urgently review the fiscal arrangements in the United Kingdom for film production; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, 18 December 1986, c. 668]: The film industry is taxed on the same broad lines as other businesses and we do not believe that films should be subject to a different system of taxation. But we have introduced into this system some special measures where they can be justified by the special nature of the film industry. These include alternative systems for writing off expenditure on films, and the extension of the business expansion scheme to film production companies. We believe that BES can help film companies attract equity finance and have suggested that the industry should examine ways of making better use of the scheme. If difficulties emerge we shall of course consider whether a change in the legislation would be justified.