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industries, including manufacturing, technology and renewable energy – are also vital, innovative components of the government’s Industrial Strategy white paper, which is aimed at increasing productivity. Offering entrepreneurs and start-ups discounts on business rates,


tax breaks and a simplified local planning process, the zones have attracted more than £2.6 billion of private investment and over 700 new businesses, creating more than 29,000 jobs. Local Growth Minister Andrew Percy says, “Our modern Industrial


Strategy paper is about creating the right environment for businesses to grow – enterprise zones are making sure that this happens across the country. They will help businesses up and down the country seize the opportunities presented by leaving the European Union.” Universities are also playing their part. “Universities’ connections with industry are vital to the


Perhaps, most importantly, it connects the DY5 Enterprise Zone


to the network and superchargers proposals to create thousands of jobs in Brierley Hill. “We can now begin looking at the next projects we want to


fund, with the extension of the Metro to Eastside to connect with the HS2 station at Curzon and the reopening of the Camp Hill line very much in our sights.” In addition to pressing ahead with HS2, the high-speed link


between the capital, the Midlands and the North, the new industrial strategy envisages progress on a host of other rail infrastructure projects, including reopening lines in the regions that were closed en masse in the 1960s, the Crossrail 2 in London, and projects such as £30 million to improve mobile and digital connectivity on the TransPennine Express rail route. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling explains, “Investment


in transport is crucial to a strong and resilient economy. The Transforming Cities fund will drive productivity and growth in cities where it is most needed, connecting communities and making it quicker and easier for people to get around. “We have already seen the impact of better integrated transport


links for passengers and the local economy in cities such as Nottingham and Manchester. This new fund will enable more English cities to reap these benefits, helping to deliver the opportunities and ambition of the industrial strategy across the country, as well as driving forward the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine.” Jon Neale, head of UK research at professional services firm


JLL, said the plans illustrated that the government was starting to put in place measures which recognises that, after Brexit, Britain will need to invest more heavily in infrastructure, skills and R&D. “It is also clear that this will increasingly be done through the


city regions,” Mr Neale adds. “The £1.7 billion fund for transport city regions – with half of those earmarked for those with mayors – will help to open up areas in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol for new investment. “Likewise, the commitment to increasing R&D spending will go


some way towards helping to improve the UK’s poor productivity levels outside London. The investment in 5G and fibre broadband is particularly welcome in this regard. “Crossrail 2 will be a vital piece of new infrastructure for London,


but perhaps more importantly is the opportunity to connect new communities in Hertfordshire and Essex to central London.” JLL also said that recently announced plans for five new towns,


with the emphasis on the new infrastructure investment in the corridor between Oxford and Cambridge, showed that the government is “poised to make radical long-term decisions to link housing, infrastructure and employment in the new digital revolution”. Enterprise zones – 48 of which have now been created in England over the past five years, supporting some of the country’s most vital


success of their local area. More than 100 university-owned science and enterprise parks bring together the best companies, personnel and ideas from academia and the private sector, driving productivity and innovation and offering further opportunities for graduates to bring their skills into the local jobs market,” comments Universities UK. Yet many experts believe more needs to be done if the productivity


puzzle is to finally be solved. Ian Brinkley, acting chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for HR and people development, does not believe government proposals are adequate to meet the challenge and wants to see “a bold package of reforms and radical investment in skills” to tackle the productivity problem. “If the government wants to build an economy that is fit for


the future then we need a much greater investment in the skills agenda, including how skills are used in the workplace,” Mr Brinkley explains. “The CIPD believes that at least 5 per cent of the National Productivity Investment Fund should be allocated to boosting investment in skills and, particularly, for life-long learning.” There are also questions over whether the method of measuring


productivity is practicable in the high-tech era. Neil Collins, financial markets commentator at the Financial Times, says the OBR’s productivity figures at a time of record high employment suggests that instead of getting more efficient, companies are simply employing more people. “But what if we are measuring the wrong things?” Mr Collins


asks. “It’s simple to count cars from a factory – although less simple to capture model improvements – but in a service economy like Britain’s, measuring output is hard. Is a longer newspaper article more productive than a shorter one? What about making telephone calls on the train? Search? Emails? Same-day delivery? All are short-circuit problems that took hours or even days to solve in the pre-internet era.” Kevin Gardiner, global investment strategist at Rothschild,


is also highly sceptical. “Product proliferation and complexity, quality change, innovation and altered delivery get in the way of determining final output,” Mr Gardiner explains. It could turn out that the UK’s productivity puzzle is, in fact,


the 21st century, high-tech version of Winston Churchill’s “riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.


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