Today, the CBI published a new report calling on government to strengthen UK supply chains though delivery of its industrial strategy plans.
At the government-CBI Industrial Strategy Conference at Warwick University, CBI Director-General John Cridland said that government still has some way to go to deliver on its promise.
Coming 12 months after the launch of the UK’s industrial strategy the new CBI report Raising the Bar – Business Priorities for Industrial Strategy One Year On – debates the UK’s future competitiveness and calls for a renewed focus on delivery by improving the the UK’s business environment and strengthening supply chains.
The report again draws attention to the familiar statistic that 80% of components for vehicles could be sourced from domestic suppliers, which could add £3bn to the UK economy. With just 36% of parts currently sourced locally, there’s a clear need for industry and government to work together to encourage investment in this area to secure future prosperity.
“With world-class engineering expertise and leading centres of design, research, development and manufacture, the UK automotive industry is proving to be a great place to invest,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “The challenge now is to maximise the benefits of those investments for the UK automotive supply chain. Working with industry through the Automotive Council, we need government to deliver on its industrial strategy, with a commitment to skills, support for technological innovation and competitiveness.”
Commenting on what should happen to secure the UK’s business future, Mr Cridland said there should be a focus on three things, “taking action to further improve the competitiveness of the UK’s business environment, strengthening supply chains that underpin our key growth sectors, and raising the bar on implementation by both business and government.”
The CBI research highlighted that while more than half of UK businesses are confident that conditions will improve in the next five years, 60% are still unclear about what the UK’s industrial strategy is hoping to achieve. Several key indicators were in need of attention to align the country with its competitors, these included: infrastructure, access to finance, education and skills, regulation, and increasing R&D spend.
Click through to download the full CBI report Raising the Bar – Business Priorities for Industrial Strategy One Year On.
Click through to download a report from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that analyses the sector strategies that make up government’s overall Industrial Strategy: Securing Jobs and a Stronger Economy.
