Fifty-Sixth Report - Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 941 30 April 2021
Report Status Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations 21 items (9 recs)
Source View on Parliament website
Government Response (AI assessment · 21 of 21 classified)
Accepted 9
Acknowledged 4
Deferred 1
Not Addressed 4
Rejected 3
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-sixth report from Session 2019-21 · published 2 Sep 2021
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Recommendations & Conclusions

9 results
5 Recommendation Accepted
UKRI is not doing enough to make sure the Fund is attracting successful bids from...
Recommendation
UKRI is not doing enough to make sure the Fund is attracting successful bids from across the country. Funding awarded by the Fund is distributed unevenly across the regions of the United Kingdom. By October 2020, just over 63% of … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation and commits to investigating the drivers behind regional disparity in the Fund's distribution, seeking to improve participation across the UK, and will write to the Committee by October 2021 detailing the inhibiting factors and steps to attract more interest.
HM Treasury
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1 Conclusion Accepted
On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Conclusion
On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (the Department) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) about the management of the Industrial Strategy Challenge … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the importance of demonstrating outcomes and impact for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and commits to writing to the Committee by October 2021 to outline the expected short, medium, and long-term impact of existing challenges, focusing on jobs and economic benefits.
HM Treasury
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8 Recommendation Accepted
We asked the Department and UKRI why it had not ensured that the taxpayer benefited...
Recommendation
We asked the Department and UKRI why it had not ensured that the taxpayer benefited from any intellectual property generated as a result of successful commercial development paid for by the Fund.19 The Department told us that securing intellectual property … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, committing to review its current approach to intellectual property (IP) with UKRI, consider the committee's concerns, and report back by July 2021, to ensure the taxpayer benefits from commercially successful IP.
HM Treasury
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12 Conclusion Accepted
In the third and most recent wave of funding that started in 2019–20, it took...
Conclusion
In the third and most recent wave of funding that started in 2019–20, it took UKRI, the Department and HM Treasury 72 weeks to select and approve challenges.32 We asked the Department and UKRI why it took them over a … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the need for a faster challenge approval process, committing to consider a more streamlined approach and simpler governance for future challenges. It will write to the Committee by October 2021 outlining plans to improve approval speed.
HM Treasury
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13 Conclusion Accepted
The Department told us that part of the reason for the delays in approving challenges,...
Conclusion
The Department told us that part of the reason for the delays in approving challenges, and ultimately projects, lay with drawn-out approval processes.34 The Department and HM Treasury are responsible for approving business cases for challenges. The Department told us … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to consider a more streamlined approach for selecting and approving challenges, with a simpler governance structure, for future challenge delivery. They also note established UKRI programmes improving project application and approval processes, and will update the Committee by October 2021 on plans to speed up approvals.
HM Treasury
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16 Recommendation Accepted
Lack of staffing capacity within UKRI may also have impacted the time taken to approve...
Recommendation
Lack of staffing capacity within UKRI may also have impacted the time taken to approve bids. At the start of Waves 2 and 3, UKRI faced significant challenges recruiting staff to oversee and manage the challenge programmes. Of the 186 … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to address staffing capacity issues impacting bid approvals, aiming for an October 2021 implementation date. They will consider a streamlined approach for future challenges and existing UKRI improvement programmes are underway, with a commitment to update the Committee on progress by October 2021.
HM Treasury
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18 Recommendation Accepted
There are several reasons why the proportion of smaller businesses receiving funding could have fallen...
Recommendation
There are several reasons why the proportion of smaller businesses receiving funding could have fallen including the increase in UKRI’s requirements for coinvestment from participants for wave 3 funding. UKRI increased the co-investment requirement from industry in wave 3, responding … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to increase SME engagement and will implement a more flexible approach to co-investment requirements for SMEs and emerging industries, outlining learnings by October 2021.
HM Treasury
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19 Conclusion Accepted
Other factors that may have influenced the reduced participation of smaller businesses include insufficient communication...
Conclusion
Other factors that may have influenced the reduced participation of smaller businesses include insufficient communication about the Fund reaching SMEs, limited capacity within SMEs to participate in collaborative bids, and the lengthy approvals processes for funding.51 We received written evidence … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to increase engagement with SMEs, noting that lessons from current challenges are informing future designs. This will include considering a more flexible approach to co-investment requirements for SMEs and they will write to the Committee by October 2021 to outline these learnings and their embedding into future funding.
HM Treasury
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20 Conclusion Accepted
Whilst UKRI does not have an explicit objective to consider the regional balance in its...
Conclusion
Whilst UKRI does not have an explicit objective to consider the regional balance in its funding awards, the 2017 Industrial Strategy did include a focus on ‘prosperous communities’ across the UK.55 The government’s 2020 Roadmap for R&D expenditure sets out … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, committing to investigate the drivers of regional disparity in ISCF funding and to improve participation across all parts of the UK for future Challenge-led funding. They will publish a UK R&D Places Strategy and write to the Committee by October 2021 with details on regional participation and embedded learning.
HM Treasury
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