Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Industrial strategy must unlock finance to prevent UK startups from leaving for other countries.
Conclusion
The industrial strategy needs to provide ways to unlock finance that allows UK startups, spinouts and other firms to commercialise to scale-up and commercialise their innovations in the UK. Far too many promising companies are leaving for the US and other countries. (Conclusion, Paragraph 82)
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the conclusion and outlines specific measures to unlock finance, including increasing the British Business Bank's capacity and committing an additional £4 billion for IS8 investment, expanding the National Wealth Fund's mandate, and strengthening UK Export Finance's offer with an additional £3 billion in lending capacity.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
10.1. The Industrial Strategy sets out how Government will deliver through the UK’s Public Financial Institutions (PuFIns) to ensure globally competitive support to businesses, titling their focus to the IS-8 and frontier industries to help firms in these areas access finance. This includes: • Increasing the British Business Bank’s (BBB) capacity and capability so that it can invest across the lifecycle of firms with high potential. At the Spending Review, the government announced the Bank’s total financial capacity would rise to £25.6 billion, enabling a two-thirds increase in support. The BBB will commit an additional £4 billion of capital to support investment into the IS8, focused on developing the UK’s venture ecosystem to encourage scale-up funds to raise more capital and lead larger investment rounds in UK firms. • Expanding the mandate of the National Wealth Fund to ensure that its £27.8 billion is deployed more strategically to drive growth. • Strengthening our export credit offer through increasing the maximum size of UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) financial portfolio by bringing forward legislation when parliamentary time allows, making an additional £3 billion of direct lending capacity available, and reviewing UKEF’s mandate to consider whether it should take on a broader trade and investment finance remit with additional flexibility to de-risk investment into IS8 firms.