Speeches by McEvoy.

“This is quite niche. The Green Book reforms in the spending review are how we spend the Treasury’s money and how decisions get made. These reforms are hopefully going to support more place-based investment. Do you think that, given the huge strategic scope that the National Wealth Fund already has in what it has to del…”

“The Chancellor said in the same letter on 19 March that she is increasing the economic capital limit from £4.5 billion to £7 billion to support more high-risk investment and the derisking of potential growth-enhancing projects. Mr Kumar, do you have any views on the disconnect between that and what is happening on the …”

“Mr Narayanan, does the National Wealth Fund have the right risk appetite? How much should it be taking risks early on? I know we have said about being patient—having this patient capital—but some of the projects are champing at the bit. They have got proof of concept, but they cannot get the private investment. How muc…”

“Just to pick up on a couple of the points we have heard before, the Chancellor wrote to the CEO of the National Wealth Fund on 19 March, setting out some strategic priorities. On the first strategic objective, it specifically mentions building stronger relationships with regional, local and devolved authorities, which …”

“What was your standout lever for growth in the spending review decisions? What do you think is the biggest opportunity for growth?”

“What restrictions and guidelines would make it most enticing for private business to make use of the mechanism? Allocating it in a spending review is one thing, but spending it is a wholly different thing. What rules should the Government stipulate to make sure it is useful and safe for the taxpayer, but exciting for b…”

“I think that is right, given that local authorities will be cautious about taking big investment decisions like that. Is the use of the financial transactions model welcome? Will it impact growth and loosen some of the restrictions on decision making and getting things built? We are talking about long-term investment d…”

“I am interested in the opportunities that the decision and move to that type of spending give for strapped local authorities. Do you see an opportunity for partnerships with private house builders to build some more social homes, for example? We might really need those. We could then see the money coming back in throug…”

“We see that in the aerospace industry, where public-private partnerships work really well. Thank you, Dr Surico. Dr Tetlow, in SR ’25 the Government allocated £9.6 billion in additional financial transactions—land and equity investments—to support growth. That is to expand the financial capacity of the British Business…”

“You mentioned how much the Government are going to try to incentivise private spending and investment in these projects as well, but do you think that in the spending review they have the balance right on risk and reward? Obviously, when we are spending public money we want value for money and we need a good and reliab…”

“You talked a little bit about the capital spending impact on growth. Where it is new innovation, we see a halo effect. Do you have any thoughts on the greenlighting of some of the projects that industry has been waiting for, and the impact that will have on non-public spending? In my constituency of Darlington, there a…”

“Dr Surico, from what you just said, would you say that the increased budget to R&D is the standout engine for growth from the spending review, or are there other areas where you might see an opportunity, from the changes laid out by the Chancellor, for positive growth figures?”

“Mr Spiers, I am conscious that I have talked exclusively to these two gentlemen. Do you have anything you would like to add on this? You mentioned stipulations in procurement around nature when we are making public investments. Is there anything else around the different PuFins? How would you like it to work?”

“Given your experience with all the different institutions, what do you think is reasonable to mirror how quick investors and venture capital firms are in America? What do you think is a reasonable target, when you are on the record, for these institutions to be able to turn around an application?”

“Time is of the essence, facing the valley of death. Dr Turner, what do you think?”

“I have one final question, which is also for Dr Turner. For the Committee’s and my benefit, what would be a reasonable reply rate for finding out about an application to a PuFin? We talked about the speed of the private sector—what would be a reasonable timeline for a PuFin to achieve once you have applied compared wit…”

“We heard from Mr Thomas of First Light Fusion on the last panel that a positive impact of state funding is the signal to market. For a business at your stage, how much is it about the signal to market versus the absolute “keep the lights on” cash?”

“Mr Chambers, earlier you mentioned the UK Infrastructure Bank. Can you tell us a bit about the experience and the feedback it gave you when you applied for that capital and other investment?”

“Do we have the demand in the country for those kinds of products?”

“That is very interesting. I have CPI in my constituency of Darlington, which is a brilliant organisation. Can you tell the Committee about the technologies you were talking about so that we have more of a picture of the sort of things your industry is innovating on?”