Rebalancing the economy
Auteur: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee
Nombre de pages: 79 pages
ISBN: 0215560450, 9780215560452
Edition: The Stationery Office
Date de publication: The Stationery Office
Description: In this report the Commons Business Innovation and Skills Committee says it has concerns over the Government's ability to deliver on its strategy to support UK exports: a key part of the Government's strategy to support the UK's recovery from recession. The Committee welcomes the direction of the new strategy, which has gone some way to address business concerns. It also contains some innovative policies and a clearer focus across Whitehall on trade promotion. However, the Committee was unimpressed with the pace of the Department's policy formation. In particular it was unimpressed with the delay in publishing the UK Trade and Investment's (UKTI) strategy for business support and the time taken to appoint both a Trade Minister and Chief Executive of UKTI. There are concerns about the Government's ability to deliver on the strategy given the reduction in funding available to the Department and its delivery organisations. It highlights the risk of reductions to the UKTI's budget, services and trade advisers. While it welcomes the Government's ambition to make UKTI a more entrepreneurial organisation, the Committee remains unconvinced that it will be able to attract the right people from the private sector given these constraints. They conclude that it is early days for a new trade strategy, a new Trade Minister and a new Chief Executive of UKTI. Given the funding constraints faced by UKTI successful delivery of the strategy represents a significant challenge. Its success can only be measured by positive outcomes for business and we will judge the Government's strategy in that light.