Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Department unable to detail Industrial Strategy's future funding and scope currently.
Conclusion
We asked the Department what the forthcoming Industrial Strategy will mean for the scale and composition of its support for industry going forward. The Department told us it was preparing for an upcoming spending review and therefore could not provide more insights now, but that it was using the process as an opportunity to consider its options. The Department said it would “caution against measuring the success of an industrial policy by the amount of funding that goes into it,” stating that while funding is “obviously important [ … ] it is not just about the money.” By way of an example, the Department referenced a recent Department for Transport mandate on zero emissions vehicles as being as important for the future of the automotive industry as any financial support it could offer for research and development.53 49 C&AG’s Report, para 2 50 Qq 81-83 51 Q 82 52 Q 82 53 Q 81 16