LONDON: The government is to highlight five key areas where the UK needs to improve its performance when it reveals on Monday the details of a new industrial strategydesigned to increase productivity.
Greg Clark, the business secretary, will announce the creation of an independent watchdog to monitor progress made in boosting innovation, upgrading infrastructure, increasing the level of workplace skills, ensuring that the strength of the City is reflected in funds for companies and spreading prosperity to all parts of the country.
A white paper to be published by Clark will also reveal that the government intends to set up long-term strategic deals in four sectors seen as having growth potential: construction, life sciences, automotive, and artificial intelligence.
New investment in the UK by the US-owned life sciences company Merck, known as MSD in Europe, creating 950 jobs, shows the benefits of the sort of partnership between Whitehall, the private sector and universities the government wants to create in its four sector deals, he will say.
“Our life sciences sector is one of the UK’s fastest developing industries, with a turnover in excess of £64bn, employing 233,000 across the UK.
“MSD’s commitment today, and the wider sector deal investment we have secured, proves the process outlined in the industrial strategy can give companies the confidence and direction they need to invest in the UK. It will ensure Britain continues to be at the forefront of innovation and represents a huge vote of confidence in our industrial strategy.”
The white paper’s focus on five core areas follows extensive consultation since the publication of a green paper at the start of the year. Clark believes the need for an industrial strategy has been made all the more pressing by last week’s budget, in which the Office for Budget Responsibility halved its forecast of the UK’s long-term productivity trend to 1%. The white paper will note that the need for the UK to seize available opportunities has been made more important by the Brexit vote.
But Clark also wants the white paper to concentrate on some of the other factors he believes explain the gulf between UK productivity and that of countries such as Germany. In particular, he wants the white paper to focus on Britain’s poor skills record, its under-investment in infrastructure and on narrowing the productivity gap not just between the south-east and the rest of the UK but also within regions themselves.
