National Reform Programme

Thursday 1st May 2014 Written Statements

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Nicky Morgan)]

On 30 April, the Government published the UK 2014 national reform programme. The document was sent to the European Commission, as part of the European semester.

National Reform Programme

Under Council recommendation 2010/410 of 13 July 2010, member states send national reform programmes each year, which report to the Commission on their structural reforms and plans.

The UK 2014 national reform programme reports on actions taken by the UK as a whole, including by the Government and by the devolved Administrations where policy responses are of a devolved competence.

The 2014 national reform programme:

puts the UK’s structural reforms in the context of deficit reduction, the 2013 autumn statement and Budget 2014;

reports on the broad macro-economic context, which uses the same text as the UK’s convergence programme;

reports on policies to tackle the six country-specific recommendations addressed to the UK by the June 2013 European Council: continuing with fiscal consolidation; reforms to the housing market; improving the employability of young people; reducing worklessness; increasing access to finance; and improving the UK’s network infrastructure; and

sets out the UK’s approach to national monitoring, in line with the five headline Europe 2020 targets agreed by the European Council in June 2010.

The national reform programme is based heavily on the announcements and forecasts of Budget 2014 and the autumn statement 2013. It is, furthermore, drawn entirely from information already in the public domain.

Copies of the document have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and are available on the Treasury website at: www.gov.uk/government/publications.