Sharing-based businesses before the end
But it will not address the possible effects on people who provide labour or services for such companies, or how to guarantee their working conditions or safety.
The Tories said that they want to make the UK a “global centre” for sharing-based businesses before the end of the next Parliament, which on current timetables would be 2020.
The review, which will report by December, is being led by Debbie Wosskow, founder of Love Home Swap, a home exchange company which claims to be the world’s biggest, and one of the companies that could be affected by any government regulations around such businesses.
The “sharing economy” is reckoned to be worth up to £9bn globally, and builds on the premise that people have surplus time or property which they can make available to others via the internet – either for free, or for remuneration.
A number of companies have sprung up - mainly in Silicon Valley near San Francisco, California - to act as middlemen between those with such “surpluses” and would-be users. Airbnb connects people who want to rent out rooms or houses with those who want to rent them; TaskRabbit lets people outsource small jobs and tasks to others nearby through an auction system; Uber connects people with cars to people who want a car ride. The companies take a proportion of the value of each transaction in return for trying to guarantee certain quality levels of both providers and clients.