Committee publication · Correspondence · 9 June 2026

Letter from the Chair of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council relating to further information requested by the Committee during its evidence session on 28 April on the Industrial Strategy, 19 May 2026

Summary

Dame Clare Barclay, Chair of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, writes to the Business and Trade Committee following an evidence session on 28 April, detailing the Council's developing approach to monitoring and evaluating Industrial Strategy success. The Council proposes tracking policy implementation, measuring intermediate business impacts, and assessing government evaluation plans alongside macroeconomic indicators, recognising that attribution to specific policies is difficult due to external factors.

Key findings

The Council will assess Industrial Strategy success using macroeconomic metrics (business investment, productivity, GVA, exports, labour market trends) alongside intermediate indicators and policy delivery tracking, rather than relying solely on long-term economic outcomes.
Three key evaluation questions identified: whether government is on track to deliver commitments and has institutional frameworks in place; whether the strategy is impacting business confidence and investment decisions; and whether effective monitoring and evaluation plans exist for specific policies and sector plans.
The Council plans focused engagement with IS8 sectors over summer to measure intermediate business impacts and will source operational data from departmental monitoring and evaluation plans.
Early progress noted in UKRI funding tilt towards the Industrial Strategy and integration of IS-critical skills into the redesigned Growth and Skills Levy, with constructive cross-government engagement cited as a positive indicator.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

industrial-strategyeconomic-growthbusiness-investmentevaluation-metrics

Key actors

Dame Clare Barclay DBE, Liam Byrne MP, Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, Department for Business and Trade, HM Treasury, UKRI

Notable line

“A successful IS should be a living policy framework that coordinates government action in support of its long-term objectives.”

Key Quotes

“… the core purpose of the Industrial Strategy is to stimulate investment in the UK's high -growth sectors , that delivers economic growth and good jobs.”
— Dame Clare Barclay DBE · defining the Industrial Strategy's primary objective

“… these macroeconomic indicators will be influenced by a range of factors – including global ones outside of the UK's control – making it very difficult to directly attribute changes to specific IS policies”
— Dame Clare Barclay DBE · explaining limitations of macroeconomic measurement alone

“A successful IS should be a living policy framework that coordinates government action in support of its long-term objectives.”
— Dame Clare Barclay DBE · characterising what an effective Industrial Strategy should achieve

“The Council will continue to bring an independent perspective to delivery and evolution of the IS – including pressing strongly on areas where there is clearly more to do”
— Dame Clare Barclay DBE · outlining the Council's oversight role

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗