§ John BarrettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the take-up of the research and development tax credit in Scotland. [142821]
§ Dawn PrimaroloResearch and development tax credits were introduced for small and medium companies in 2000. They were extended to all companies in 2002 and further improvements were made in 2003. No specific figures are available for Scotland, but the credits helped over 3,000 innovative SM E companies nationally in 2001–02, the latest year for which complete data is available.