188体育

Meeting date: 22 April 2025

Venue: In the Cabot, London, and by videoconference

CMA board members present

• Sarah Cardell (Chair), Chief Executive Officer
• Doug Gurr, Interim Chair

Advisors present

• Jessica Lennard, Chief Strategy and External Affairs Officer

Attendees present

• Alex Veitch, Director of Policy and Insights, British Chambers of Commerce
• Dom Hallas, CEO, Startup Coalition
• Ellie Steel, Group Operations Director, Founders Forum Group
• Helen Dickinson, CEO, British Retail Consortium
• Michael Moore, CEO, British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association
• Julian David (online), CEO, TechUK
• Julia Hoggett (online), CEO, London Stock Exchange
• Rupert Soames (online), Chair, Confederation of Business Industry
• Carolyn Dawson, CEO, Founders Forum

CMA observers

• Anthony Wright, Senior Director, Engagement and Communications
• Neena Bhati, Head of Stakeholder Engagement
• Trixxy Just, Strategy, Complaints and Enquiries Manager
• Hugo Wallis, Head of Public Policy
• Georgia Cummings, Principal Policy Advisor
• Shaun Reid, Director, Advocacy, Public Policy and International

Apologies

• Irene Graham, CEO, ScaleUp Institute
• Paul Wilson, Policy Director, Federation of Small Businesses
• Martin McTague, Chair, Federation of Small Businesses
• Bob Wigley, Chair, UK Finance

Following an introductory session on the Competition and Markets Authority鈥檚 (CMA) evolving capabilities in strategic business analysis, the bulk of the discussion focused on the contribution competition can make to successful industrial strategy.

Agenda

1. Deepening business expertise and understanding

The CMA outlined the vision for its growing Strategic Business Analysis (SBA) function, designed to embed deep understanding of corporate strategies, investment and business models within the organisation. GIC members were keen to understand how they would 鈥榝eel鈥� the difference made by SBA. The CMA described this as an accelerant to the 4Ps, enabling the CMA to 鈥榮peak the same language鈥� when engaging with stakeholders. SBA aims to complement the CMA鈥檚 expertise in law and economics with new skills, leading to better-targeted interventions.

2. How competition regulation can support successful industrial strategy聽

The CMA provided an overview of its work on industrial strategy to date, including policy development and micro-economic research, stakeholder engagement and advice to government.

Theme 1

The role of competition in industrial strategy聽

The Council agreed that there is an important role for the CMA in industrial policy, using its powers in a targeted way and supporting the government as an independent advisor and 鈥渃ritical friend鈥�. While the CMA鈥檚 remit gives it a cross-economy view, they cautioned against too broad an approach, encouraging the CMA to continue prioritising specific sectors and 鈥榗ross-economy enablers鈥�. The Council discussed the need for clarity around policy objectives, bearing in mind competition will not always be the primary goal. The Council suggested that government needs to explicitly state desired outcomes for various sectors, including where 鈥榮trategic domestic suppliers鈥� or 鈥榞lobally consequential firms鈥� may be valuable. The Council focused its discussion around the following themes.

Theme 2

Innovation 鈥� policy and regulation can help or hinder聽

The Council considered that public innovation funding should be targeted to maximise impact. Policymakers should remain alert to risks that incentives have the effect of moving innovation activity around (for example between regions), rather than increasing overall levels of innovation. Scale matters - it is important that public funding programmes are not unduly disaggregated.聽聽聽

Where government provides funding for innovation, it should consider conditions on that funding to ensure the outcomes are positive for the UK (for example use of UK suppliers, building up the UK skills base etc.).

The Council identified regulatory overlap and lack of co-ordination as potential blockers to innovation. Remits should be clear and co-operation maximised, so that businesses can engage with regulatory requirements set in a more unified way. The Digital Regulation Co-operation Forum is a good initiative which the CMA could promote outside of the digital context. The CMA should consider how to avoid competition law acting as an unnecessary or disproportionate disincentive to risk-taking and collaboration. Enabling sector-based collaboration within the bounds of the law (such as it has with the Green Agreements Guidance) is an important part of the CMA鈥檚 role.

Theme 3

The UK scale-up challenge, including the creation of strategic domestic suppliers and globally consequential firms聽

The Council identified significant barriers for UK firms seeking to scale up, including: access to capital, skills shortages, digital exclusion and slow adoption, transport, housing, and grid capacity. The CMA can use its powers in some of these areas, where appropriate, to ensure lack of effective competition or other barriers not exacerbating existing challenges.聽聽

The Council considered that in many cases, the CMA could (and should be unafraid to) play a role in supporting the development of a competitive ecosystem from which globally consequential companies grow, including providing advice to government about market dynamics in that context. Members suggested that the UK needs a 鈥榯heory for the structure of the economy鈥�, including considering where we may want a greater degree of sovereign control, onshoring or resilience. There would be benefit in examining successful international examples where industrial strategies have successfully created strategically significant domestic suppliers or globally consequential companies 鈥� including the interaction with competition policy in these examples. Even in sectors where competition between UK firms was not the primary policy objective (such as where a sole supplier exists), there might well be benefit in ensuring strong competition in supply chains or elsewhere in the ecosystem.

Theme 4

Public procurement can play an outsized role聽

The Council noted that public procurement can be a critical stimulator and curator of growth - but processes need to be fit for purpose and reflective of the realities of the markets in which they are being applied. This includes both integrating pro-competitive principles where appropriate and, for example, recognising where features of a market mean that effective competition is not a viable option in one or more parts of the value chain and considering how to mitigate harmful effects which may stem from that context.聽

The Council considered that there is thus a need for tailored procurement solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches, as standardised methods often deliver poor outcomes. Procurement of major projects can be more effective through close consideration of the wider supporting supply chain, including many SMEs. For example (as above), while a single supplier might exist, competition can still occur within the supply chain. The Council encouraged the CMA to focus on examining deeper supply chain elements for effective competition rather than areas where UK needs are already met.