Economy: Productivity
Debate between Lord Popat and Lord May of Oxford
Lord May of Oxford (CB)
Building on the admission that one of the greatest drivers of productivity is research and development, does the Minister agree that we need to do something to promote a more risk-taking culture? In the United States, bankruptcy is almost a condition for going forward in Silicon Valley; in our case, it means that it is hard to get a credit card afterwards.
Lord Popat
I will cover the points raised by the noble Lord. First, on research and development, we are investing £30 million in the sector and we are giving incentives to companies to carry out research and development. As to low productivity compared to other countries, we have the right industrial and growth strategies in place to make sure that productivity goes up. With regard to asking companies to invest, we have given the right fiscal tools, including higher tax allowances, for companies to invest more.