The Private Business Commission was launched to investigate why some companies appear to struggle to maximise their growth potential within the UK, and to advocate for policies to better incentivise and enable them to do so. 

As part of the Commission, issued a Call for Evidence. This was to ensure that we were understanding the existing research base as well as possible, and also to gather new information and opinions relevant to our research objectives. 

The Call for Evidence has now closed, but the questions it asked were as follows:

Access to Funding

1.1 What is your overall impression of the state of the funding environment in the UK for businesses looking to scale? (Please feel free to provide qualitative as well as quantitative evidence)

1.2. How effectively do existing government funding schemes (e.g., grants, loans) support businesses looking to scale?

1.3. What improvements could be made to the venture capital ecosystem in the UK to better support high-growth businesses?

1.4. Are there specific sectors or stages of growth where access to funding is particularly challenging? What are these challenges and how can they be overcome? 

1.5. Could corporate venturing schemes with associated tax reliefs add a meaningful source of capital to high-growth businesses?

1.6. Do you believe that the Mansion House reforms from 2023 will make a material difference?  Is there anything more the government needs to do to ensure they are a success?

1.7. Do you think the UK would benefit from having a more significant venture debt market?

Tax Incentives

2.1. How does Britain’s tax regime impact businesses’ decisions to scale up operations within the country? 

2.2. How do tax incentives currently influence decisions on whether to retain control of high-growth businesses or encourage them to early exit?

2.3. How effective are the Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS and EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) in incentivising investment in high-potential companies? How might they be improved?

2.4. How do the UK’s tax incentives for businesses and investment in them compare to other countries, and what lessons can be learned?

Growth & Capital Markets

3.1. What are the primary challenges businesses face in accessing public capital markets?

3.2. How well do the existing regulations concerning Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) contribute to facilitating the growth aspirations of businesses?

3.3. What factors primarily influence businesses’ decisions to list in the UK versus elsewhere?

3.4. How could the UK’s capital markets be improved to better support high-growth businesses?

3.5. Are rules around acquisitions and competition disincentivising high-growth companies from acquiring smaller firms while scaling? If so, where does this rank in terms of being a problem for potential growth?

3.6. What are the greatest challenges facing British companies that want to internationalise? Are exporting opportunities favourable enough for them, compared to peer countries?  

Employee Incentives

4.1. Are you aware of employee ownership schemes, such as the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMIs)? If so, what are the tangible benefits of these incentivises for companies?

4.2. How effectively do employee incentive and ownership schemes in the UK help businesses to scale? Do they have a role in high-growth companies as well as companies that will remain small? 

4.3. How could the UK’s employee incentive and ownership schemes be reformed so that larger private businesses can benefit from them? 

4.4. What are the challenges businesses face in implementing and administering employee incentive and ownership schemes? Are these challenges big enough to deter businesses from implementing them? 

4.5. How do the UK’s employee incentive and ownership schemes compare to those in other countries, and what best practices could be adopted?

General

5.1. Why is it important for the UK to have a better environment where companies can scale in size? (E.g. what practical gains stand to be made?)

5.2. How well does the UK do internationally in terms of scaling businesses?

5.3. Are there any questions or policy areas you think we have not asked about, which would warrant further inspection? (If you have further thoughts on them, please feel free to provide them)

5.4. What other research/data would you recommend we take into consideration?

5.5. Are you a founder who would be willing to talk to us either on or off the record to discuss this topic in more depth?