Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to increase regional productivity in the North East.

The Government’s Industrial Strategy has set out a long term approach to boost the UK’s productivity growth and ensure that we’re building an economy fit for the future. The White Paper has set out a range of measures aimed at increasing investment from the private and public sector, which will both be vital in meeting the objective of increasing our productivity and earning power for people across the UK, including the North East of England.

We are working with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership to support the delivery of their Strategic Economic Plan, with its key themes of More and Better Jobs, which articulates how productivity can be enhanced in the area. In their latest analysis, the North East LEP highlights that, of the 55,200 additional jobs created in the North East since 2014, 73% – or 40,300 – meet their definition of ‘better’ jobs.