Speeches by Blake.

“You think that it is at the right place in its journey at the moment, but there is more growth. What is the ideal size of the UK National Wealth Fund?”

“I want to talk about the size of the National Wealth Fund at the moment. We have had evidence showing that it is significantly smaller than comparator organisations in France and Germany. We have heard from you about your determination for funding from the National Wealth Fund to be additional. Do you think the Nationa…”

“Is the Treasury’s strategic risk appetite currently aligned with the National Wealth Fund?”

“What I am getting at is that the losses were higher in the most recent year. Does the Treasury have confidence that it is on the right track in terms of the level of risk?”

“The National Wealth Fund registered a loss in the last year, and that loss was higher than in the previous year. What would it take for the Treasury to intervene on the level of loss? What kind of monitoring are you doing? What would it take for you to intervene?”

“What checks and balances are in place to make sure that within that dialogue there is no political interference around operational decisions? Mr Flint was confident that there is no political interference, but what measures are in place to prevent that?”

“We heard from Mr Flint that he would not characterise it as a dialogue. You have talked quite a bit about a dialogue between the Treasury and the National Wealth Fund. One person’s dialogue is another person’s regular formal meetings. Could you describe what you mean by dialogue between the Treasury and the National We…”

“Most things are accounting.”

“There were higher losses in the last year than there were in the year before. What are the reasons for that?”

“Leaning into your point about risk. The National Wealth Fund has registered quite significant losses. Should the National Wealth Fund be profitable?”

“We will come on to the role of the Government in the next panel. I want to drill into this question about the relationship between the British Business Bank, Innovate UK and the National Wealth Fund. We have heard from other witnesses about the 23 different organisations that are involved. You have talked about the peo…”

“The modern industrial strategy suggests that there is a little overlap between yourselves and the British Business Bank. I hope we can drill into that with it, or with the Minister later. This is your moment. What would that environment look like in a more ideal setting? You have alluded to the fact that there are a nu…”

“You can see the risk, if there is an intention to generate additional investment into these key sectors and the National Wealth Fund grows, that the focus on additionality could decline. Can you see the risk I am highlighting?”

“How would you make sure that, at each point in that growth, you are true to the objective of the fund, which is to generate additionality?”

“You think that it is at the right place in its journey at the moment, but there is more growth. What is the ideal size of the UK National Wealth Fund?”

“I want to talk about the size of the National Wealth Fund at the moment. We have had evidence showing that it is significantly smaller than comparator organisations in France and Germany. We have heard from you about your determination for funding from the National Wealth Fund to be additional. Do you think the Nationa…”

“What I am getting at is that the losses were higher in the most recent year. Does the Treasury have confidence that it is on the right track in terms of the level of risk?”

“Is the Treasury’s strategic risk appetite currently aligned with the National Wealth Fund?”

“The National Wealth Fund registered a loss in the last year, and that loss was higher than in the previous year. What would it take for the Treasury to intervene on the level of loss? What kind of monitoring are you doing? What would it take for you to intervene?”

“What checks and balances are in place to make sure that within that dialogue there is no political interference around operational decisions? Mr Flint was confident that there is no political interference, but what measures are in place to prevent that?”