- By Buckinghamshire Business First
- 3 February, 2017
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“Underpinning this strategy is a new approach to government, not just stepping back and leaving business to get on with the job, but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business and ensures more people in all corners of the country share in the benefits of its success”. - Theresa May, Foreword, 2017
One of Theresa May’s first acts as Prime Minister was to create a new department with an “explicit responsibility for industrial strategy”, to be led by Greg Clark[1]. Building our Industrial Strategy, published on 23 January 2017, is the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Green Paper setting out how it proposes to build a “modern industrial strategy”.
As a Green Paper it is open for public consultation with comment welcome from “anyone with an interest”. Buckinghamshire Business First is responding to the Green Paper and would like to collect the views of businesses in the county in order to present a thorough overview of what our local businesses need from future government strategy.
Industrial Strategy objectives
The Industrial Strategy’s objective is to “improve living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country”. In meeting this objective the strategy sets out that it must:
- build on the UK’s strengths and extend excellence into the future
- close the gap between the UK’s most productive companies, industries, place and people and the rest; and
- make the UK one of the most competitive places to start or grow a business
Next Steps
A total of 38 questions for consultation are posed in the Green Paper, four relating to the strategy overall and a total of 34 arising from the individual pillars. A full list of the questions for consultation are presented below in table 2.
You may have a strong opinion on all of the questions, or most, or some, or just the one. However many questions trigger a response from you, the important thing to is to ensure you do actually respond.
The consultation closes on Monday 17 April. Buckinghamshire Business First would like responses returned by Friday 31 March in order to collate and present these views effectively.
A Buckinghamshire response will be submitted drawing on input to the questions from Buckinghamshire Business First and its membership, Buckinghamshire Thames Valley LEP and Buckinghamshire County Council’s Transport, Environment and Economy department. The emerging response will be shared at Board Meetings leading up to the deadline. Views gathered during this process will be shared for inclusion in the responses of other organisations, such as CEDOS, the Chief Economic Development Officers' Society.
The Ten Pillars
The government has set out 10 pillars that it is basing its strategy on. These Ten Pillars are set out, together with the new activities associated with each, in table 1 below. While much of the proposed approach is nationwide, relating to underpinning policies and institutions, there are strong local and sectoral dimensions, often with a competitive element, relating both to cash (e.g. the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund) and institutions (e.g. Institutes of Technology).
The final strategy intends to “back Britain for the long term: creating the conditions where successful businesses can emerge and grow”, giving the private sector a central role in setting out the ways government can help, but also identifying the importance of local authorities, LEPs and business associations.
Challenges for Buckinghamshire
Establishing that high productivity exists alongside low growth
Productivity and economic growth are both used as metrics to determine where Government policy can be used to “influence the prospects of particular places”. Buckinghamshire is a high productivity economy, however its economic growth has been less impressive, failing to meet the national rate of growth in eight of the last 11 years. Despite this, the Green Paper explicitly excludes towns in the South East when identifying slow growing areas.
Setting high productivity in context
The Green Paper starts by setting out the UK’s productivity gap with France and Germany. It then moves to focus on divergence from the overall UK level. Productivity in the South East region is below that achieved across all of France, Germany and the US. Although the gap is starker in other parts of the country, Buckinghamshire may also need assistance to be “firing on all cylinders”. Buckinghamshire’s GVA per capita is among the highest of the UK’s NUTS3 regions but would rank just 99th in Germany.
Setting out the county’s challenges against a rebalancing narrative
The strategy’s objectives refer to raising the performance of the whole country. However, within the forewords and the Ten Pillars a narrative of rebalancing emerges referencing the strength of London and the South East and the need for investment in the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine. Similarly, while towns and counties are referenced, far greater emphasis is placed on cities. A case will need to be made for the additional contribution the county could make to realising the strategy’s ambitions, drawing on Buckinghamshire’s Strategic Economic Plan.
Institutional demands
Despite acknowledging that not all areas would benefit from having directly elected Mayors, Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has noted those that do “will always be in line for the greatest degree of devolution”[2]. Building our Industrial Strategy argues that devolution is “a clear signal of belief in our local leaders and local communities to take control of their economic destiny” and plays a central role in spurring innovation and productivity gains. The case for strong leadership in Buckinghamshire must be made to give access to all the available tools.
Positioning our local strengths in specific sectors
Work on sector deals is underway, including in life sciences and the creative industries. These are two of the sectors where Buckinghamshire has significant strengths. As Greg Clark told the IoD in September, “Governments are fond of quoting national figures... but the truth is economic growth does not exist in the abstract. It happens in particular places”[3]. The industrial strategy provides an opportunity to support the Strategic Economic Plan and to add value to the work currently underway in Buckinghamshire.
It's now time to have your say
Read the Ten Pillars and the questions below and respond to research@bbf.uk.com by Friday 31 March in order for us to collate your views with the rest of the Buckinghamshire business community.
Table 1: The Ten Pillars and associated new commitments
|
Pillar |
New Commitments |
|---|---|
|
Investing in science, research and innovation |
Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund |
|
Developing skills |
Create a "proper" system of technical education |
|
Upgrading infrastructure |
Use infrastructure to support rebalancing |
|
Supporting businesses to start and grow |
Build understanding of the obstacles to firms outside London and the South East accessing capital |
|
Improving procurement |
Roll out of the Cabinet Office's "balanced scorecard" |
|
Encouraging trade and inward investment |
Build future trading relationships |
|
Delivering affordable energy and clean growth |
Setting out a long term road map to minimise energy costs |
|
Cultivating world leading |
Welcoming work on early sector deals - including in creative industries and life sciences |
|
Driving growth across the whole country |
Additional infrastructure spending to unlock growth |
|
Creating the right institutions to bring together sectors and places |
DIT to review how it identifies priority investments |
Questions for consultation
Table 2: The questions for consultation by pillar, private sector response to be particularly sought for highlighted questions
|
Pillar |
Questions for consultation |
|---|---|
|
Overarching |
1. Does this document identity the right areas of focus: extending our strengths; closing the gaps; and making the UK one of the most competitive places to start or grow a business? |
|
Investing in science, research and innovation |
5. What should be the priority areas for science, research and innovation investment? |
|
Developing skills |
10. What more can we do to improve basic skills? How can we make a success of the new transition year? Should we change the way that those resitting basic qualifications study, to focus more on basic skills excellence? |
|
Upgrading infrastructure |
15. Are there further actions we could take to support private investment in infrastructure? |
|
Supporting businesses to start and grow |
18. What are the most important causes of lower rates of fixed capital investment in the UK compared to other countries, and how can they be addressed? |
|
Improving procurement |
23. Are there further steps that the Government can take to support innovation through public procurement? |
|
Encouraging trade and inward investment |
25. What can the Government do to improve our support for firms wanting to start exporting? What can the Government do to improve support for firms in increasing their exports? |
|
Delivering affordable energy and clean growth |
27. What are the most important steps the Government should take to limit energy costs over the long-term? |
|
Cultivating world leading sectors |
31. How can the Government and industry help sectors come together to identify the opportunities for a ‘sector deal’ to address – especially where industries are fragmented or not well defined? |
|
Driving growth across the whole country |
34. Do you agree the principles set out above are the right ones? If not what is missing? |
|
Creating the right institutions to bring together sectors and places |
36. Recognising the need for local initiative and leadership, how should we best work with local areas to create and strengthen key local institutions? |
Let us have your responses!
The full Green Paper can be read below. Alternatively, to save you time, use the overview we have provided for you above and respond to research@bbf.uk.com by Friday 31 March.
Get involved on social media
In the coming days and weeks we are posting questions from the government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper on LinkedIn and Twitter and encouraging you to tell us what you think and get involved in conversation with your fellow members. Stay tuned to our social media channels to get involved.
Links
Industrial Strategy Green Paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/building-our-industrial-strategy
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/new-ministerial-team-to-develop-industrial-strategy
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/supporting-local-government
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-importance-of-industrial-strategy
