Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Accepted
Department improved intelligence sharing and single account management for top businesses
Recommendation
The Department recognised the importance of sharing business intelligence across government. It said that while the legal and technical issues surrounding this could be resolved, creating the right culture and incentives was harder. The Department told us it takes an account management approach to structure its engagement with industry but that it recognises that across Whitehall, departments need to be more disciplined in checking with account owners and sharing information.15 The Department told us it has worked with HM Treasury and Downing Street on its ‘top accounts’. It explained it had identified “50 companies [with a] disproportionate impact on the growth mission and industrial policy” and had put in place a new system. The Department told us that, as a consequence: When senior officials and Ministers are speaking to those companies, everyone knows who has talked to whom. We know what the issues of concern are from that company and how they are being progressed, and we have a single senior person, at both ministerial and official level, to own that relationship.16
Government Response Summary
The government has developed a new cross government digital customer relationship management system called the Strategic Company Insight Tool (SCIT) to improve the sharing of business intelligence, enable logging of business engagements, sharing company statistics, business insights and government priorities for engagement.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 The department developed the whole of the Industrial Strategy in partnership with other departments, with Sector Plans led by relevant departments. This ongoing programme of work involves sector councils and taskforces, chaired by leaders from the sectors and with representatives across relevant industries, working with lead departments and the Department for Business and Trade as appropriate. 40 2.3 Implementing the Industrial Strategy is a government-wide effort, underpinned by shared objectives and metrics. Governance has been established to coordinate the Industrial Strategy and Growth Mission at senior levels. Permanent Secretaries from economy-focused departments meet regularly to address strategic issues and engagement with priority businesses. The group is supported by a cross-government, Director-level Industrial Strategy Programme Board, co-chaired by the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury. 2.4 The Industrial Strategy Advisory Council (ISAC) provides advice, expertise on delivery, monitoring and impact evaluation, and will build on the evidence base to support future policy development for the Industrial Strategy. It will work closely with the department and HM Treasury, lead officials from across government and public bodies to support progress using a data-led approach. 2.5 The department consolidates intelligence sourced from business sectors, overseas, regional and analytical teams to produce monthly business intelligence reports. These are shared widely across government, reaching over 2,500 recipients, including ministers from the department and 16 Permanent Secretaries across government, to inform and shape policy. 2.6 The department continues to improve this reporting in response to user needs, including through digital platforms to enhance accessibility and readership. 2.7 The department has developed a new cross government digital customer relationship management system to improve the sharing of business intelligence. The Strategic Company Insight Tool (SCIT) enables departments to log business engagements, share company statistics, business insights and government priorities for engagement, making clear which department and officials are responsible for coordinating the strategic relationship. Several departments, with lead responsibilities, currently use the tool and the department is expanding usage. Built in-house through a partnership between business-facing policy teams and digital functions, the SCIT has removed the need for a potentially costly external procurement. Groundbreaking elements include voice transcription and the ability to securely share commercially sensitive information across departmental boundaries.