Skills funding needs to be aligned with industrial strategy, prioritising vocational and technical training through retraining programmes and flexible learning supported by the Growth and Skills Levy.
Trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) should link to local skills and innovation.
Infrastructure, housing and transport must support regional growth, with policies encouraging road building, affordable urban transport (trams) and high density building in urban areas.
To improve productivity, the UK should support digital transformation of the public sector, ensuring universal access to digital services and mandating digital readiness for all policies.
Fragmented decision?making, short?term budgeting and an “over-centralised yet under?co-ordinated” Whitehall machine are blocking the very productivity gains on which the Government’s economic strategy relies.