Education, Skills and Training:
- T Levels - The government announced T levels at Spring Budget 2017. As implementation gets underway, the government will invest up to £20 million to help teachers prepare for this change.
- Maths support - The Budget announces support for maths, including rewarding schools and colleges who support their students to study maths by giving them £600 for every extra pupil who decides to take Maths or Further Maths A levels or Core Maths – with over £80 million available initially, and no cap on numbers.
- Computer science - Committing £84 million to upskill 8,000 computer science teachers by the end of Parliament. The government will also work with industry to set up a new National Centre for Computing to produce training material and support schools.
- Apprenticeship levy - The government will continue to work with employers on how the apprenticeship levy can be spent so that the levy works effectively for industry.
- Gender disparity in STEM –To deepen the understanding of the gender disparity in subject choices at age 16, the government will explore how to improve the accessibility and transparency of data on this issue by institution and subject.
- National Retraining Partnership – The government will enter into a formal skills partnership with the Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry, to develop the National Retraining Scheme.
- Retraining to work in priority sectors – As a first step, the National Retraining Partnership will oversee targeted short-term action in sectors with skills shortages, initially focussing on construction and digital skills.
- Work-based training – The government will provide £8.5 million over the next two years to support Unionlearn, an organisation of the Trades Union Congress to boost learning in the workplace.
Technology:
- AI – The government will create a new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to enable and ensure safe, ethical and ground-breaking innovation in AI and data-driven technologies. The government will invest over £75 million to take forward key recommendations of the independent review on AI, including exploratory work to facilitate data access through ‘data trusts’. The government will also create new AI fellowships, and initially fund 450 PhD researchers, to secure the UK’s leading position in the global AI market.
- Regulators’ Pioneer Fund – To help unlock the potential of emerging technologies, the government will establish a new £10 million Regulators’ Pioneer Fund. This will help regulators to develop innovative approaches aimed at getting new products and services to market.
- Tech Nation – The government will invest £21 million over the next 4 years to expand Tech City UK’s reach – to become ‘Tech Nation’ – and support regional tech companies and start-ups to fulfl their potential. Tech Nation will roll out a dedicated sector programme for leading UK tech specialisms, including AI and FinTech. Regional hubs will be located in: Cambridge, Bristol and Bath, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffeld, Reading, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Belfast, and Cardiff.
- Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – The government will make changes to the regulatory framework, such as setting out how driverless cars can be tested without a human safety operator. The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will also launch a new innovation prize to determine how future roadbuilding should adapt to support self-driving cars.
Research and Development:
- Long-term support for science and innovation – The Budget confirms that the £4.7 billion NPIF investment in science and innovation announced at Autumn Statement 2016 will grow by a further £2.3 billion of additional spending in 2021-22, taking total direct R&D spending to £12.5 billion per annum by 2021-22. The Industrial Strategy White Paper will provide further detail on what this funding will support.
- Research and development expenditure credit – The government will increase the rate of the R&D expenditure credit from 11% to 12% with effect from 1 January 2018. To provide businesses with the confidence to make R&D investment decisions, the government will also introduce a new Advanced Clearance Service for R&D expenditure credit claims.
- International talent – To support its ambitions on innovation and R&D, the government is encouraging the best and the brightest international scientific and research talent to work in the UK.
Digital Communications:
- 5G testbeds and trials –The government will invest a further £160 million from the NPIF in new 5G infrastructure.
- Rail passenger communications – The government will shortly consult on commercial options to improve mobile communications for rail passengers and will invest up to £35 million to enable trials.
Environment and Energy:
- Sustainable investment in energy – The government will continue to support low carbon electricity as it becomes more cost-competitive, including through up to £557 million for further Contracts for Difference.
- Ultra-low emission vehicles – To support the transition to zero emission vehicles, the government will regulate to support the wider roll-out of charging infrastructure; invest £200 million, to be matched by private investment into a new £400 million Charging Investment Infrastructure Fund; and commit to electrify 25% of cars in central government department fleets by 2022. The government will also provide £100 million to guarantee continuation of the Plug-In Car Grant to 2020 to help consumers with the cost of purchasing a new battery electric vehicle.
Business investment and exports:
- The Budget provides businesses with additional support to grow and also to export. The government’s Industrial Strategy will provide further detail of how businesses in every part of the country will get the help they need to access support and improve their productivity.
Local growth (Northern Powerhouse):
- Northern Powerhouse rail – £300 million will go towards ensuring High Speed 2 (HS2) infrastructure can accommodate future Northern Powerhouse and Midlands rail services.
- Tyne & Wear Metro – The government will invest £337 million from the NPIF to replace the Tyne & Wear Metro’s nearly 40-year-old rolling stock with modern energy-efficient trains. The new feet will cut running costs while boosting performance and reliability for the 38 million passengers that use the system annually.
- Redcar Steelworks – The Budget will provide £5 million to help enable the South Tees Development Corporation to take ownership of the SSI Redcar Steelworks site, and the government will work with local partners to prepare the site for redevelopment.
Local growth (Midlands Engine):
- West Midlands – The government has agreed a second devolution deal in principle with the West Midlands Mayor and Combined Authority to address local productivity barriers. This includes £6 million for a housing delivery taskforce, £5 million for a construction skills training scheme and a £250 million allocation from the Transforming Cities fund to be spent on local intra-city transport priorities.
- Manufacturing zone – The government will pilot a manufacturing zone in the East Midlands. This will reduce planning restrictions to allow land to be used more productively, providing certainty for business investment, and boosting local productivity and growth.
Local growth (other):
- Poppy Factories – The government has committed £4.7 million to modernise the Poppy Factories in Richmond and Edinburgh, to make them fit for purpose and to secure the production of the Poppy, the iconic symbol of National Remembrance, throughout the UK for the next generation.
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Expert views:
“We welcome the funding that is being made available for Research and Development in connection with the Industrial Strategy and look forward to the imminent White Paper. We also welcome the increase in the R&D Expenditure Credit for large companies from 11% to 12%. The current pace of technological change means that we have a once in a generation opportunity to re-industrialise the UK’s economy,” James Selka, chief of the Manufacturing Technologies Association
"The Government's commitment to a comprehensive industrial strategy and support for manufacturing, innovation and new technology is a welcome stiffener for business as Brexit anxiety looms. The Chancellor's explicit pledge to deliver an implementation plan ahead of Brexit will reassure companies of the Government's intent, giving business certainty amid gathering Brexit jitters. We are delighted to see the Government's National Productivity Fund has been extended for a further year to £31 billion to upgrade Britain's economic infrastructure and the extension of the R&D tax credit increasing to 12% will boost business investment in future productivity and technological advances,” Terry Scuoler, chief of EEF
“It is concerning to see UK productivity flat-lining. The UK has suffered further declines in productivity since 2008/09 than most other advanced economies and that needs to change. On a more positive note, earlier in 2017 we learned that government support for R&D and investment in a better educated workforce was top of UK manufacturing executives’ wish list. The Chancellor has today gone some way in supporting both of these points, further efforts to encourage investment in R&D are to be applauded as is the action plan for supporting innovative start-ups. Other countries aren’t holding back on investment so neither can we. I am disappointed not to have heard more about encouraging foreign direct investment or measures to boost exporting. It is all very well investing in our transport system but we are really missing a trick if we don’t ensure that transport infrastructure helps businesses export faster and more efficiently. Finally, again, it’s great to hear the Chancellor champion T-levels, but this has been under discussion since April, it’s time to turn words into action,” Stephen Cooper, head of Industrial Manufacturing at KPMG UK
“It is vital that our young people are taught by world class teachers if the UK is to compete on the global stage, particularly as 52% of school leavers in England currently don’t have a good GCSE pass in maths. Additional funding must be pinpointed to drive up the quality of teaching and also incentivise more young people to study invaluable subjects such as maths. These are first steps but be backed up with Government looking to the long-term to achieve results for generations of school leavers. Government must target the new funding at attracting and retaining the best maths teachers for the long haul - only then we will see take up and importantly achievement of these core subjects increase and deliver the skills that our industry so desperately needs,” Tim Thomas, director of Employment and Skills Policy at EEF
To read more about the Budget, click here.
