Meet the BVCA’s new Policy Directors – Sarah Adams and Isobel Clarke

It’s been almost a month since joining as Policy Directors at the BVCA, taking on the role previously held by Gurpreet Manku, now CEO of Level20. We are delighted to be here following in her brilliant footsteps. Gurpreet led the BVCA’s policy department through a period of huge change in the policy landscape that affects this industry. She was also the driving force behind increasing the BVCA’s work on sustainability and on diversity, equity and inclusion. We feel fortunate to have inherited the excellent policy team and such an interesting portfolio of work.
Having spent most of our careers as policy-makers in government, mainly in HM Treasury, the world of private capital feels a little different. We are more used to being the officials writing advice to Ministers than writing responses to consultations. Many of the core areas of focus however are the same – growth, competitiveness and sustainability among them. Those are the policy areas that we’ve spent much of our career to date working on. We’ve developed tax policy, legislation, regulation and have engaged with industry too. We are delighted to bring this experience and insight to the BVCA to actively influence government policy in support of private capital investment.
Specifically, in our time here so far, it’s been really energising to see the activity over the Summer in response to the Chancellor’s speech at Mansion House in July. Extensive work is going into responding to live consultations on the pension reforms proposed by DWP. The team are working with government officials to help realise the Chancellor’s aim “to unlock better returns for savers and more growth capital for businesses” for both private capital and pensions fund investment. This of course all builds on work the BVCA has long driven through the Productive Finance Working Group with the Bank of England and the new LIFTS initiative – all aiming to boost investment in innovative and growing companies.
It's also been great to see such a high level of collaboration with members of the technical, advisory and policy committees who help to inform our responses to consultations e.g. on sustainability reporting standards, updating the UK regulatory regime for asset managers and international tax rules. We look forward to regular committee meetings resuming next month to drive this important work forward, including the refresh of the Walker Guidelines for Disclosure and Transparency.
Looking ahead to the return of Parliament at the start of September, the policy team are actively engaged in handling of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill and a call for evidence on SME finance launched by the Treasury Select Committee off the back of their VC inquiry. We will further continue to offer practical support to BVCA members navigating the evolving ESG landscape with an update to our Responsible Investment Toolkit and our new ESG and Impact webpages.
We’re really looking forward to working together and meeting many of you at our upcoming events: the Summit on 4-5 October and the Tax, Legal and Regulatory Conference on 21 November. We are also glad to bring our jobshare partnership, formed at HM Treasury in early 2020, to the BVCA. It’s an exciting time to join and as we approach the next Parliamentary term, there will be plenty to get stuck into across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters. If you’d like to get in touch, please use our shared email.
Sarah Adams and Isobel Clarke
Directors of Policy, BVCA