- "text": "UK Industrial Strategy\n\nOverview\nThe UK Industrial Strategy was released in 2025, with accompanying plans for 6 out of the 8 target “IS-8” sectors. It also has a sector definition list that provides SIC codes being targeted - top level sectors and ‘frontier’ subsectors (a few of which overlap; most do not). These range in specificity between 2 digit and 5 digit SIC codes.\nAs that webpage says, most of these SIC codes cannot capture the full range of possible firms the strategy aims to cover, and it also contains entire sections that SIC codes can’t cover at all - clean energy and certain digital sectors in particular. However, it does allow an analysis of which sectors are definitely within those industrial strategy categories. This section gathers job details for those specific sectors - a distinct range of types and breadth - and compares Bradford to the rest of the UK where possible, to see which sectors align with the industrial strategy and other analysis above. This is done for both BRES and Companies House job counts, to pick up on different job types.\nThis document has a data section (“UK INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY LINKAGE”) that pulls out Bradford sectors in this ‘IndStrat’ list - giving job counts, LQs and change over time from both BRES and Companies House data.\nThe table below lists the IS-8 broad sector headings. In the IndStrat plots, the abbreviations for these IS-8 headings appear before the sector name. Clean energy - as mentioned above - has no SIC codes and so can’t currently be matched. There are no matching defence sectors or firms in Bradford.\n\n\n\nTable: Industrial Strategy IS-8 names and abbreviations (dashes mean that sector doesn’t appear for Bradford)\n\n\nIS8 sector\nAbbreviation\n\n\n\n\nAdvanced Manufacturing\nADV MANUF\n\n\nClean Energy Industries\n–\n\n\nCreative Industries\nCREATIVE\n\n\nDefence\n–\n\n\nDigital and Technologies\nDIGITAL\n\n\nFinancial Services\nFIN\n\n\nLife Sciences\nLIFESCI\n\n\nProfessional and Business Services\nPBS\n\n\n\n\n\nAlso:\n\nThe LQ plots only shows IndStrat SIC sectors where Bradford has 100+ employees (for 2021-23 average)\nAnd breaks them down into ‘frontier’ sectors and the others (a few of which overlap)\n\n\n\nWest-yorkshire relevant points in the Industrial Strategy\nHere are bullet points from the main Industrial Strategy policy document and the accompanying sector strategy docs (see link at the start of this section) where mentions of West Yorkshire occur (WY authorities are only mentioned once - namely Wakefield’s Production Park, see below).\nFrom main document:\n\n“The British Business Bank will introduce a new Cluster Champions programme in 10 places” including West Yorkshire. (p.98)\n“Champions with deep expertise and local knowledge will coordinate investment-readiness programmes, strengthen financial networks, and connect high-potential firms in the IS-8 to investors” (again, WY included: “Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, North East, West of England, Glasgow City Region, Cardiff City Region, and Belfast City Region.”)\nNational wealth fund available WY (p.99)\nLocal Innovation Partnerships Fund - WY (p.100)\nIntracity connectivity / creative place growth fund (part for WY, p.109)\nA “New Professional and Business Services Hubs in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, and West Yorkshire, and piloting Made Smarter for Professional and Business Services across the North of England.” (p.110,142/3)\nWY financial services support (p.136)\n\nPBS sectors plan:\nAleady mentioned, but a little more detail: “Delivering a new technology adoption programme for PBS SMEs, starting with a pilot in the North of England (North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, excluding Lincolnshire authorities), supporting a corridor across our Northern city regions. This targeted and intensive support programme will equip high‑growth potential PBS SMEs with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to adopt AI and PBS-specific digital technologies.” Including support for tradeable work.\nCreative industries sector plan:\n\nSupporting “cutting-edge createch in West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Bristol and Bath”\nDescription of a WY cluster: “West Yorkshire: Music, Film & TV, Video Games, Createch, Fashion/ Textiles. Production Park in Wakefield, host of a COSTAR Live lab, deploys pioneering technology to develop arena tours, film and TV. Channel 4’s Leeds HG equips regional talent with industry-leading training and opportunities. Home to Game Republic Ltd, which operates two leading games networks across the North of England.” (p.62)\n(Bradford gets a photo in this one - Les Girafes, p.51)\n\nDigital and technologies sector plan:\n\nAgain: “Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, a new programme to grow high-potential innovation clusters across the UK. This will empower local leaders to decide how to target R&D investment in their region and unleash their full innovation potential. The fund earmarks at least £30 million each for 10 regions [including] West Yorkshire.” (pp.60-61)\nAnd the cluster champions programme mentioned above. pp.60-61\n\nLife Sciences sector plan:\n\n“Continued support for Life Sciences-focused Investment Zones in: West Yorkshire” (and Liverpool City Region). p.54\n\n\n\nPoints from the IndStrat LQ plots for Bradford\nThe IndStrat LQ plots pick out for Bradford which IS-sectors are more concentrated job-wise, what their trajectory is and what the job counts are. This section can be read in conjunction with the more detailed data/sector analysis below, from which it draws.\nThere are three sectors in particular identified below as being important to Bradford but facing productivity challenges that could benefit from support flowing from the industrial strategy: chemical production, head offices / management consultancy and architect/engineering/tech testing services. See the analysis below for a description of the history of these sectors.\n\nBradford has both manufacturing and service strengths that marry with the industrial strategy.\nFrom those examined below, Bradford’s IS-8 overlaps are:\n\nPBS: across a number of sectors, including legal services, accounting, head offices and management consultancy.\nFinance: as well as banks, Companies House accounts picks out a very large number of holding companies in the finance category.\nAdvanced manufacturing: the machinery / equipment not elsewhere classified SIC covers a lot of advanced firms including space sectors, and is 3000 jobs in BRES. While architect/engineering/tech testing is technically PBS, it has important connections to production and faces challenges. Chemical production has already been mentioned as key to the industrial strategy but a nationally struggling sector.\nDigital: electronic instuments/navigation isn’t a large number of jobs relatively, but it is likely a part of the larger advanced manufacturing / digital tech crossover."
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