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20 May 2025: Industrial Strategy Advisory Council meeting minutes

Published 16 September 2025

The sixth meeting of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council (ISAC) took place in-person at Victoria House, London, on Tuesday 20 May. It was Chaired by Clare Barclay and attended by Council Members, Senior Officials and the Secretariat of the ISAC.

Members

Members are:

• Clare Barclay – Chair
• Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell – Deputy Chair
• Dr Aislinn Rice
• Dame Anita Frew
• The Rt Hon Greg Clark
• Greg Jackson
• Professor Henry Overman
• Henrik L. Pedersen
• Sir John Kingman
• Kate Bell
• Baroness Shriti Vadera
• Roy Rickhuss
• Chris Grigg (ex-officio)
• Phil Smith (ex-officio)

Officials

The officials are:

• ISAC Secretariat
• Sam Lister – Director General, Industrial Strategy, Department for Business and Trade
• Fred Perry – Director, Industrial Strategy, Department for Business and Trade
• Leonie Lambert – Director, Industrial Strategy Council, Department for Business and Trade
• Sean Jones – Director, Companies and Economic Security, HM Treasury
• Sravya Rao, OBE – Deputy Director, Economy and Strategic Analysis, Department for Business and Trade

Apologies

Apologies from:

• Professor Dame Diane Coyle
• Tunde Olanrewaju

Agenda item 1: welcome from the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council Chair

1. Clare Barclay (CB) updated members on recent engagements, including meetings with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Agenda item 2: discussion on latest policy development in relation to white paper and sector plans

1. Sam Lister (SL) and Fred Perry (FP) provided an update on the latest progress on policy development towards the Industrial Strategy and sector plans for the growth driving sectors.

2. Members discussed the following key issues:

a. Energy market reform: The Council agreed there was a need to address the UK’s high energy prices through energy market reform.

b. Skills and education: The Council agreed on the need for a coherent and actionable strategy for skills development, including a long-term plan to support universities and reform the skills levy.

c. Place: members discussed the importance of prioritising government interventions to avoid spreading too thinly, whilst emphasising how specific interventions would have wider UK economic benefit.

d. Business engagement: members agreed that the Industrial Strategy must signal genuine partnership with industry.

e. Long-term view: the Council agreed that the Industrial Strategy should be framed as part of a long-term, evolving strategy which would need to be responsive to the changing business environment.

Agenda item 3: long-term role of the ISAC

1. The Council briefly discussed communications, and engagement plans for the launch of the Industrial Strategy and agreed that the Secretariat should circulate proposals over the coming weeks.

2. Leonie Lambert (LL) provided an overview on the Council’s long-term role post publication of the Industrial Strategy, including in contributing to the evidence-base for government decision making on ongoing industrial and growth policy, and responding to commissions from government on specific pieces of work.

3. Following the publication of the immigration white paper in May, this also covered the Council’s expected role as part of the Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG) alongside the Migration Advisory Committee, Skills England and the Department for Work and Pensions.

The Council agreed to return to this topic in the summer. The Chair closed the meeting and thanked members for their contributions noting the next steps on the policy process.