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Growing the skills base
One of the major concerns of business is the availability
of appropriately skilled labour. The Strategy recognises
this and proposes to continue working with educational
establishments and industry to develop the skill base.
With the increasing number of technical colleges and
apprenticeships it is clear that the process has started,
although this is not a quick fix.
Having a voice
It is appropriate for business to have a proper route
for lobbying on issues that are important to the sector.
Although business pays a substantial amount of money in
tax each year through mechanisms such as business rates,
it does not have a voice to indicate how that money should
be spent.
Greater input from the business sector into Government
departments such as UKTI may help to address this
issue and contribute to the ongoing development and
implementation of appropriate industrial strategies.
Plenty of potential
The UK has a long history of industrial innovation, and
developing this ability and capitalising on it seems entirely
logical. Improvements to infrastructure and growth of the
skill base will help industry as a whole and also contribute
to smoothing regional imbalances.
However, although the industrial sector is already
performing very well, it is not yet truly fit for purpose.
The initiatives outlined in the Green Paper on Industrial
Strategy and those associated areas not covered in its
pages, if implemented, are essential to helping maintain
industrial momentum and adding greater resilience to the
UK economy.
The UK is
open and
ready for
business and
the launch of
the Industrial
Strategy
today
shows our
commitment
to improving
growth and
productivity
across
the whole
country
—
Liam Fox,
Secretary
of State for
International
Trade
Improvements
to the
infrastructure
and growth
of the skills
base will help
industry as a
whole and also
contribute
to smoothing
regional
imbalances
good for taking congestion off the roads and also for the
environment, but it has led to passenger overcrowding in
many of the major conurbations.
Looking forward, the HS2 Bill is now progressing and,
once delivered, the new railway will free up much needed
passenger and freight capacity on the existing network.
However, many more modern rail terminals are required for
rail freight to maximise its competitiveness. Unfortunately,
rail terminals are costly to develop and take considerable
time to bring forward.
Furthermore, the elephant in the room, urgent progress
is needed to resolve the London airport issue.
Planning
An area not addressed by the Green Paper is that the
planning system is slow, costly and has uncertain outcomes
in terms of both the form of consent and its timing. Major
infrastructure projects take many years to bring to fruition
and, while there are procedures that seek to speed the
delivery of such schemes, the process as a whole is not
quick or cheap.
It is appreciated that although there are many factors
and views to be considered, the delays in the provision of
infrastructure approvals does not help industry to flourish.
Land availability
Linked to the issue of infrastructure, is the question of
land availability for industry versus land for residential. The
public demand for housing is very strong. It is therefore
politically expedient that some unsuitably located
commercial sites are redeveloped for residential. However,
this alone cannot fulfil housing need completely, and it
also creates a demand that appropriate replacement sites
are found for employment uses. Inevitably, this will mean
looking at developing Green Belt sites, which is a very
sensitive issue.
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britishchamber.cn CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD17
SECTOR FOCUS: INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY