§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what response the Treasury has made to the Bank of England's January 1998 report on finance for small firms. [33404]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 16 March 1998]: The Government welcome the Bank of England Report. We recognise that small and growing firms form the bedrock of a successful enterprise economy, creating wealth and employment and generating new ideas and products and are therefore committed to providing an environment in which they can flourish. To encourage more innovative and entrepreneurial activity in our economy we are also pursuing a number of direct policy measures to encourage investment into high-tech companies, including reviewing the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme to improve access to finance for technology-based firms, reviewing the Venture Capital Trust and Enterprise Investment schemes to encourage equity investment by private individuals in high-growth firms, and reviewing Capital Gains Tax to consider ways of increasing the incentives for investment in entrepreneurial firms.