Industrial Strategy Conference

Vince Cable Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

In September last year, I set out the Government’s new industrial strategy for the UK. Our industrial strategy is a long-term, whole of Government approach with partnership with industry at its heart. The publication of the last of our 11 sector strategies in August represents an important milestone in our work. These strategies set out a vision shared by business and Government for these sectors, building on existing strengths and give businesses the confidence they need to invest and grow.

On September 11, the Government and the Confederation of British Industry will be jointly hosting an industrial strategy conference at Warwick university to set out the next steps industrial strategy over the next year and beyond. At the conference, we will also be announcing the following:

Round 2 of the Employer Ownership Pilot—Government want to give employers more direct control of how public funding for vocational skills is spent and are testing this through the employer ownership pilot. Round 1 of the programme is funding 36 projects with £102 million of Government funding matched by £108 million of private investment. Under round 2 of the project, 39 bids have progressed to the next phase and we will be announcing the first wave of these bids.

Round 3 of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI)—The initiative was first established in December 2011 to help existing UK supply chains grow and achieve world- class standards, while encouraging major new suppliers to come and manufacture here in Britain. The autumn statement 2012 provided an additional £120 million for two additional funding rounds of AMSCI—rounds 3 and 4—taking the total Government contribution to this scheme to up to £245 million. Subject to due diligence five supply chain projects from the aerospace, chemicals, electronics and life sciences sectors will be receiving over £115 million of joint public and private sector investment and we expect their projects to create and safeguard over 1,500 jobs.

£150 million investment in Green Construction projects—£60 million is being invested through the Technology Strategy Board to support the UK construction industry in designing and developing more energy efficient buildings. Government expect the projects to attract an additional £60 million of industry investment and £30 million extra funding from across Government. The construction industry contributes almost £90 billion to the UK economy and supports around 3 million jobs.

The See Inside Manufacturing programme will be expanded from three to 10 sectors, with seven new industries joining automotive, aerospace, and food and drink. The seven new sectors include construction, offshore wind and the life sciences. See Inside Manufacturing enables young people and teachers to get behind the scenes of the manufacturing industry and see first hand the opportunities available.

We are also publishing an economic analysis of key themes cutting across our sector strategies. This new paper, published to coincide with the conference, brings together insights from the analysis underpinning the sector strategies using the four themes of the conference—“Exports, Innovation, Skills and Supply Chains”. This paper will be placed in the House Library.