For the NWF to move the dial on growth, we believe the Government should pay particular attention to the following elements of its design and operation:

• Maintain or increase planned capitalisation: Ensure that the NWF retains capitalisation of £27.8bn or more – and maintain its focus on the specific sectors of the economy already identified as key targets for support, to provide policy and regulatory certainty.
• Focus on de-risking projects: The NWF’s greatest value-add is its ability to channel significant amounts of private capital into the economy by de-risking lending and investment. We support efforts by the Government and the NWF itself to increase the NWF’s risk-taking appetite and focus its dealmaking on specific, higher risk and lower deployment sub sectors.
• Strategic coordination of government plans and institutions: The NWF must be aligned with the aims of the Industrial Strategy, and other government initiatives aimed at driving growth such as the Pension Investment Review, capital markets modernisation, the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and the enhanced role of the British Business Bank.