Government launches next phase of Growth Review
Skills, the rural economy and medium sized businesses will be the focus as the Government concentrates on restoring the economy.
Building on the radical programme of reforms set out in the first Plan for Growth, published at the Budget, the next stage of the review will focus on:
- Infrastructure - considering how to eliminate barriers and encourage greater investment in UK infrastructure.
- Education and skills - looking across the whole of the education system from schools, FE colleges, universities and other training providers to consider how to maximise economic growth.
- Logistics - covering rail, road, shipping and air freight interests and cutting across the wholesale industry, looking at opportunities and barriers to growth as the logistics sector evolves in response to the increasing complexity and globalisation of supply chains.
- Mid-sized businesses - examining businesses that have expanded beyond the definition of SMEs, considering how to increase the number of firms that show significant growth at this level.
- Rural economy - scrutinizing the constraints, opportunities and risks impacting on economic growth in rural areas, and considering specific issues including labour market characteristics, to support the Government’s commitment to rebalancing the economy.
- Open data - investigating the potential growth benefits and risks of opening up access to public sector data assets.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
“We are launching the second stage of the plan for growth with one central purpose - creating the right conditions for business to start up, invest, grow and create jobs.
“We are seeing the evidence this week of successful rebalancing of the economy towards exports and manufacturing, with the announcement of major commitments from Nissan and BMW, and today the commitment from Rolls Royce to an expansion of their Apprenticeship programme.”
The Plan for Growth
The Plan for Growth set out more than 100 actions across 15 sectors and themes.
In the three months since its publication the Government has already:
- Cut corporation tax by 2 per cent to 26 per cent.
- Increased the personal allowance by £1,000, taking nearly a million people out of tax altogether.
- Introduced a moratorium on new regulation.
- Launched the Green Investment Bank with an initial capitalisation of £3billion to support green infrastructure programmes.
- Set out plans for 21 new Enterprise Zones.
- Boosted tax reliefs on new investments including reform of the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
- Doubled the lifetime limit for Entrepreneurs Relief to £10m.
In the coming weeks the Government will:
- Publish a new presumption in favour of sustainable development.
- Further expand the University Technical College programme.
- Pilot a land auctions model starting with public sector land.
- Reform the UK’s competition framework.
- Establish a package of measures to support town centres, building on Town Centre First.
- Publish the Government response to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.
The second phase of the Growth Review will involve an intensive programme of engagement with business over the coming months.
Based on the evidence collected, action plans for growth in each review area will be presented to a Ministerial Group chaired by the Chancellor and Business Secretary, with final plans due for report in the autumn.