Head of Group Finance, Innospec
Search every verified Graeme Blair interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Graeme Blair, Head of Group Finance at Innospec, has been involved in discussions on UK R&D tax credit reforms and social science research methodology. In a November 2024 discussion, Blair asked about the practical impact of merging the SME and large-company R&D tax credit schemes, noting that historically there was a differential between the two. He inquired about the meaning of "R&D intensive," changes to subcontractor cost claims, and the treatment of overseas costs. He also asked about HMRC's approach to compliance, stating that his organization had not experienced the rejection of valid claims that had been reported in business news. Blair has also presented research on refugee reintegration in northeast Nigeria, describing a practitioner-researcher partnership with Mercy Corps. He stated that a key policy problem was communities' unwillingness to accept people returning from involvement with Boko Haram, citing a 2017 survey in which 90% of respondents felt returnees should be tortured. He discussed an intervention using audio messages from a senior Islamic cleric, which he said increased support for reintegration by 9 to 13 percentage points. He noted that attitudes toward former associates had improved by about 20 percentage points since 2017. Additionally, Blair has presented work on DeclareDesign, a software framework for declaring, diagnosing, and improving research designs through simulation, arguing that it helps researchers select well-powered designs and communicate their quality to readers and reviewers.
“Historically there has been a differential between the claims and the process for making claims between a company in the SME sector and a large company; we have the SME scheme and we have the above-the-line taxable income scheme for large companies. I understand going forward they're going to be merged — is that correc...”
“So if I understand it correctly, the SME scheme is almost coming to an end and everyone was being ported into the large company scheme with the practical impact that SMEs will be claiming lower rates. Is that a fair reflection?”
“Client-base subcontractor costs have constituted a large percentage of the claims, but I understand under the merged scheme that's not going to be possible going forward — what are the changes?”
“You gave the example in the revenue guidance of companies A, B and C which fits neatly into the construction sector; if you look at that chain and the involvement of professional practices, is this likely to give significant change to the claims that professional practices may or may not have made in the past?”
“So it sounds to me like the contractual relationship is going to be perhaps more important going forward than it has perhaps in the past.”
“The merged scheme has many hallmarks of the old large-company scheme, but many entities in the SME sector make R&D tax credit claims — do you think the merger will have any practical impact on their ability or desire to make claims?”
“You use the expression 'innovation in the UK' — amongst our international client base we've seen work done outside the United Kingdom for the economic benefit of a UK-based company; I understand those rules might be changing, so what are those changes?”
“And turning to administration, is there any mechanism for advance clearance on the availability of either R&D tax credits or the ability to claim overseas costs?”
“In the business pages there have been many stories about HMRC's approach to compliance and suggestions that the revenue have been rejecting a lot of valid claims; we haven't experienced that and I think that's down to Keane's approach — what do you think sets you apart from other organisations that provide R&D advice?”
“An expression I'm hearing a lot is 'R&D intensive' — what does that mean in practice and what are the consequences for making a claim?”
“One of the biggest policy problems in northeast Nigeria in the last five to seven years is that there have been people trying to return from involvement with Boko Haram back into their communities, but communities are not willing to have them come back due to security concerns.”
“In 2017, a survey in internally displaced persons camps found that 90% of people felt returnees should be tortured either for retribution or to obtain information, and about 50% supported capital punishment for those with the most extreme roles.”
“Only about 50% of people said they were willing to accept a former member of Boko Haram back into their community, driven by fear of what they might do and anger toward their past actions.”
“Trusted authorities, especially religious leaders, may be able to change minds and shift social norms about important pro-social behaviors such as accepting returnees into communities.”
“Religious leaders in northeast Nigeria are trusted by 97% of people, more than any other institution, and have the ability to use religious texts to lead attitudinal and behavioral change.”
Graeme Blair, Goodman Jones and Andy Royce from Kene Partners discuss changes to merged R&D scheme. If you have any ...
Every year, millions of people are forced to leave their home due to conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecution and ...
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