The Social Investment Task Force, which was set up by the Treasury in 2000 published Social Investment Ten Years On, looking at the role the Task Force has played in exploring innovative roles that the voluntary sector, business and the government could play as partners. Recommendations include:
• introducing a UK version of the US Community Reinvestment Act: legislation that would force banks to disclose who they lend to, and thus reveal if they are serving underprivileged communities.
• establishing a definition of social enterprise.
• introducing a tax incentive to ‘encourage trusts and foundations to use some of their considerable assets of more than £60bn to engage in social investment'.
• supporting the development of the social impact bond which could become part of the remit of the social investment wholesale bank.
See www.socialinvestmenttaskforce.org for more.