Written question asked by Ian Gibson (Labour) on Monday, 27 April 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 29 April 2009. It was answered by Angela Eagle (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 May 2009 on behalf of the Treasury.

Research and Development Tax Credit

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies operating in the UK's life sciences sector have received research and development tax credits in each of the last three years; and what proportion of those were (a) large companies and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises.

Answer: The most recent National Statistics on R and D tax credits, published on the HMRC website on 19 December 2008, cover financial years up to 2006-07."http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/randdtcmenu.htm"Information on claims for R and D tax credits by companies operating in the life sciences sector is not available because the data are broken down by industry sector using the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (SIC), and life sciences are not identified as a separate sector in this classification.

Secondary information