Agenda item

Presentation from Kieron Boyle.

The Board welcomed Kieron Boyle, Head of Social Investment at the Cabinet Office, who gave a brief presentation of the investment market, the Cabinet Office’s current focus and the issues and challenges on the horizon, after which Members of the Board had the opportunity to ask questions.

Mr Boyle advised Members that policy framework in this area sought to increase the supply of, and access to, social investment capital and reported that this year had seen the launch of social investment tax relief. In terms of capacity building, the Chancellor had announced a further £60m in capacity and investment, and discussions were ongoing with the City Corporation and the Law Commission to assess how suitable current rules were for fostering new connections and joint working to develop the social investment market. Mr Boyle advised Members of the G8 Task Force that had been launched two weeks previously, which would identify work for governments to do in order to enable growth.

With regard to improving access to social investment, Mr Boyle discussed the role of the Market Development Foundation and open public markets. Members noted that social impact bonds could promote better joined up working, particularly for government departments which struggled to join monies. Members noted that the UK was a world leader in social investment, and approved of the long-term aim to make London a Global Hub in the field. With regard to challenges, Mr Boyle discussed the problems of limited sources of investment and a lack of availability and access, and Members noted that there were additional political questions to be considered regarding Pension Funds and whether they should include social investment elements.

With regard to pension fund investments, Members discussed how trustees of the funds could be reconciled with social investment, and how to deal with the retail perspective in a regulatory environment. Members discussed the presentation, querying whether help was being prioritised for SMEs or on creating social investments of a significant size. Mr Boyle responded that both were being facilitated. He added that 15-18% of SMEs were social enterprises, which generally found it 15% more difficult to secure finance. Members discussed the common range of issues between social enterprises, SMEs and social investment. 

In response to a Member’s question about London being developed as a Global Hub, Mr Boyle advised that this was on the common policy agenda and there was strong political support across parties.  In response to a follow-up question, Members noted that social enterprise was a complex issue on which to engage with Europe as ‘the social market’ had a different meaning; EU discussion would be beneficial once the debate had been aligned and established. 

Officers queried how the social impact of investment could be assessed. The Chairman asked officers to investigate measurement tools, and report back with what’s available, and Mr Boyle undertook to send the G8 group’s work on impact measuring around the world. This would feed into the work to clarify the spectrum of organisations, from those dependent on grants to larger groups able to tap into mainstream markets, in order to facilitate connections, continue dialogues, and define the social business frontier.

The Chairman thanked Mr Boyle for his presentation and invited him to stay for the rest of the meeting.