Policy paper

Industry panel terms of reference

Updated 22 November 2017

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

1. Objectives

The Industry panel will develop and suggest a package of recommendations as part of a formal response to Her Majesty’s (HM) Treasury’s consultation on Patient Capital. In doing so, the panel will operate independently and feed into the work of HM Treasury’s review by:

• providing guidance and assistance on the key issues effecting innovative businesses access to the long-term ‘patient’ capital they need to scale up
• helping to define the key themes for the review’s consultation phase (to be published in spring)
• providing feedback and guidance on the review’s output later in the process by means of a formal response to the public consultation, in particular recommending a cross-industry consensus on potential policy measures to encourage long term investment in growing UK businesses
• providing input to the review team to help refine and modify the review proposals following market consultation, as well as providing on-going input on potential market impact
• helping to take forward those parts of the final recommendations requiring industry ownership, where necessary

With the support of a secretariat the panel will analyse evidence, provide expert insight and undertake discussion regarding:

• the barriers and opportunities for entrepreneurs and UK businesses across sectors and regions to secure different types of long term finance which is required to scale up their businesses
• the incentives and disincentives for different types of capital providers to offer long term finance to UK businesses
• the characteristics of sector specific and/or non-UK investment ecosystems, policy interventions and novel initiatives which have encouraged and discouraged long term investment in growing businesses within and outside the UK
• ideas and innovative options for mechanisms for the UK Government to support long term capital investment to scale up growing UK businesses

2. Stakeholder engagement

The industry panel will consult on issues and recommendations with stakeholders across industries and sectors. It will also undertake new research on the above issues as necessary. It will carry out this work within the scope of the Terms of reference set out in the overall review.

3. Membership

The Chair of the panel will decide on its membership to be representative of a cross-industry perspective on issues relevant to patient capital. This will include the perspective of entrepreneurs, fund managers and investors.

All members of the panel will act in a personal capacity rather than represent the views of their organisation. Members of the panel will not receive remuneration.

The panel will have its own secretariat, separate from that of the review team. Members of the review team may be invited to join all or part of panel meetings and the Chair and secretariat to the panel will provide regular progress updates to the review team.

4. Accountability

The panel is independent from the main review and does not carry out responsibilities on behalf of HM Treasury. Information about panel governance, membership and these Terms of reference will be made available through a public website. The panel’s formal response to the autumn consultation will be made publically available.

5. Confidentiality

There will be a duty of confidentiality imposed on all panel members. Panel members may be exposed to sensitive information as part of panel discussions. In all cases where third parties see panel documentation, individual panel members are expected to accept responsibility for ensuring that those third parties are aware of and respect the confidentiality and sensitivity which attaches to the panel and to the documents in question.