Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 4
7th Report - Industrial Strategy
Published 6 Jun 2025
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Industrial Strategy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recognise that ‘what gets measured gets managed’. The forthcoming industrial strategy and sector plans must set out how their economic contribution to the Growth Mission and the Government’s strategic objectives will be measured. To track the progress of the industrial strategy, we recommend the Government sets a robust framework, with clear targets for the remainder of this Parliament and for the 10-year span of the industrial strategy, along with clear metrics. The framework should allow 70 Parliament and the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council to assess how the industrial strategy is contributing to the Growth Mission as well as the strategy’s contribution to inclusive growth, net zero and the UK’s economic security and resilience. Key targets must be set for each of these objectives and enshrined in public spending agreements between the Treasury and individual departments to ensure that public spending across government is supporting the Industrial Strategy. The Industrial Strategy Advisory Council should conduct an annual progress review against these targets, and this review should be reported to Parliament. This framework should be reflected in plans for each of the growth-driving sectors, while also allowing for sector-specific metrics and targets. (Recommendation, Paragraph 31) Growth-driving sectors and grand challenges
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, 7th Report - Industrial Strategy (HC 727), 6 June 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 September 2025 (deadline 6 August 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's ten tests as metrics to assess progress and responds to each recommendation, agreeing in several areas while stating that it has no current plans to change the Regulatory Innovation Office.
- On measuring progress, the government "agrees that there must be clear measures in place" and says the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council will oversee monitoring and evaluation and report annually.
- On putting the Industrial Strategy Council on a statutory footing, the government agrees this is an important step and commits to doing so "when parliamentary time allows", with provisions in the IS Bill.
- On the Regulatory Innovation Office, the government says: "There are not current plans to change the Department or scope of the RIO."
- On the Prime Minister chairing the Growth Mission Board, the government says the Board is chaired by the Chancellor and the Prime Minister "is not a member of the Board" but engages frequently by other means.