Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
33rd Report - Supporting the UK’s priority industry sectors
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1070
Published 25 June 2025
Recommendations
7
Accepted
Businesses receive duplicate or conflicting information from multiple government departments
Recommendation
To support industry, government must listen to the needs of businesses. The Department told us that while every government department engages with industry in some form, the Department for Business and Trade aspires to be a ‘front door’ for all …
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Government Response Summary
The government conducted a detailed consultation with business through the green paper Invest 2035, introduced a cross-government Account Management initiative, appointing dedicated account managers to lead strategic relationships with key businesses, and established a dedicated area to coordinate business engagement and insights.
HM Treasury
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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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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9
Accepted
Department struggles monitoring sector engagement with inaccessible digital systems and inconsistent records
Recommendation
We asked the Department about its ability to monitor its engagement with economic sectors, given that officials do not consistently record their interactions with companies, and its digital system — DataHub — is not accessible across the whole of Whitehall.17 …
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Government Response Summary
The government developed a cross government digital customer relationship management system called the Strategic Company Insight Tool (SCIT) to improve the sharing of business intelligence.
HM Treasury
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16
Accepted
Department lacks complete overview and accurate data on industry support spending
Recommendation
The Department does not have a complete overview or accurate data on what it, and wider government, spends on supporting industry. The Department found it difficult to readily provide the NAO with a breakdown of its support for industry. It …
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Government Response Summary
The government will collaborate across government and public bodies to enhance tracking and reporting of support to the Industrial Strategy sectors, refine sector definitions, and conduct strategic analysis to assess policy effectiveness and economic trends.
HM Treasury
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20
Accepted
Cross-Whitehall collaboration essential for Industrial Strategy delivery despite misaligned objectives
Recommendation
We asked the Department to clarify its relationships with other departments and the influence it has in decision-making and trade-offs.40 The Department recognised it cannot deliver the forthcoming Industrial Strategy in isolation, and that other government departments have a role …
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Government Response Summary
The government developed a cross government digital customer relationship management system called the Strategic Company Insight Tool (SCIT) to improve the sharing of business intelligence.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (7)
2
Conclusion
Accepted
The Department is not working effectively enough with other departments to support industry and achieve the greatest impact. The Department views the economy through the lens of 10 economic sectors and 41 sub-sectors. While the Department is responsible for supporting businesses in general, it is not itself responsible for all …
Government Response Summary
The government states it developed the Industrial Strategy in partnership with other departments, established governance and boards for coordination, and implemented a new digital Strategic Company Insight Tool (SCIT) to improve cross-government intelligence sharing, with usage currently expanding.
3
Conclusion
Accepted
The Department lacks a comprehensive understanding of its support for industry, including how much it spends per sector and the types of support it offers. The Department supports industry through a range of interventions, which vary in form and scale. Some interventions support individual sectors while others are designed to …
Government Response Summary
The government states it will collaborate across government to enhance tracking and reporting of support to Industrial Strategy sectors, refine sector definitions, and conduct strategic analysis to assess policy effectiveness and economic trends.
4
Conclusion
Accepted
It is not clear how the Department balances multiple government objectives, such as growth and net zero, when making decisions about how to support industry. Government needs to consider a wide range of metrics when making investment decisions including employment, net zero, and economic growth. Pursuit of these metrics requires …
Government Response Summary
The government will provide greater transparency by using new 'place-based business cases' and supplementary guidance to assess projects and private sector contributions. It will also work with various bodies to maximise the impact of business-facing funds, with an approach already outlined in the Industrial Strategy's Technical Annex and a new supply chain centre being established.
5
Conclusion
Accepted
There is a risk that the Department is not set up internally to support the aims of the forthcoming Industrial Strategy and to respond to ongoing issues facing UK businesses. The composition of sector teams in the Department’s Business Group varies by size and grade distribution, and is not always …
Government Response Summary
The government states it has transitioned the Industrial Strategy Unit into a permanent delivery unit and has set out plans to restructure teams to focus on Industrial Strategy delivery, with this transformation already in progress and mostly completed by Spring 2026.
6
Conclusion
Accepted
It is essential that the government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy has clear measures of success and effective processes for monitoring and evaluation. The government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy is central to its economic growth mission. The Department is placing great emphasis on the Strategy and sees it as an opportunity to set …
Government Response Summary
The government has committed to regularly reviewing progress against the Industrial Strategy, supported by the ISAC, and has implemented a public monitoring and evaluation approach underpinned by an impact pathway outlined in the technical annex. All government departments will carry out monitoring and evaluation for their individual policies and Sector Plans.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Business and Trade (the Department) and HM Treasury on support for the UK’s priority industry sectors.1
Government Response Summary
The government states it conducted a detailed consultation, introduced a cross-government Account Management initiative with dedicated account managers and ministerial engagement, and established a dedicated area to coordinate business engagement. It also published 'The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy' and will explore establishing dedicated Sector Offices.
12
Conclusion
Accepted
In the absence of formal agreements, the NAO reported that teams had taken different approaches to agree roles and that structures had emerged to overcome cross-departmental barriers.24 The Department highlighted the Office for Life Sciences (OLS), its cross-department skills forum, and the recent Growth Mission Board as examples of government …
Government Response Summary
The department developed the whole of the Industrial Strategy in partnership with other departments and this ongoing programme of work involves sector councils and taskforces.