Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable evaluation of health programmes and investments to account for productivity benefits, in line with guidance issued in the Green Book.
Answered by Lord Markham
The Department has well-established policies and mechanisms in place to ensure health programmes and investments are subject to systematic evaluation at key stages in their lifecycle, in accordance with HM Treasury’s business case guidance. This includes reviewing quantitative and qualitative evidence on whether approved health projects achieve their objectives and deliver the promised benefits within the agreed budget, timescale, and scope. Lessons from post-project evaluation are widely disseminated, to support better investment decisions in future, and more robustly developed business cases.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of levels of public sector productivity in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2022-23; and what his planned timetable is for publication of the Public Service Productivity Review.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
ONS publish annual National Statistics on public service productivity up to 2020. The next annual statistic for 2021 will be published in March. ONS also publish estimates of annual public service productivity for 2021 and 2022. An experimental estimate for 2023 will come after the Spring Budget. This information is available online
There will be an update on the Public Sector Productivity Programme at Spring Budget.
Nov. 17 2023
Source Page: Public service productivity, UK: 1997 to 2022Found: Public service productivity, UK: 1997 to 2022
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Policing Productivity review on levels of theft from shops.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognises the impact shoplifting has on businesses and communities. The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows neighbourhood crime is down 48% compared to findings from 2010; however, Police Recorded Crime figures show shoplifting offences increased by 32% in the 12 months to September 2023. Statistics also show the number of people charged with shoplifting has risen by 34%, showing the police are acting.
We have recently taken significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime, including shoplifting. In October 2023, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. All forces across England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify offenders. This builds on the NPCC commitment that police will follow up on all reasonable lines of enquiry.
The Government published an enhanced Action Plan, "Fighting Retail Crime: More action" on 10 April. This Plan highlights key areas of work to tackle retail crime, including introduction of a new standalone office for assaults on retail workers; additional electronic monitoring for prolific shoplifters; and increasing use of facial recognition technology.
The Policing Productivity Review was published on 20 November 2023, which concludes there is the potential to free up around 38 million hours of police time per year within five years. This equates to over 20,000 police officers. The Government is working with policing to consider its recommendations, freeing up police officers’ time which can be reprioritised to enable officers to spend more time fighting crime on the front line, in line with local priorities set by Police and Crime Commissioners. This additional police time could be used to support delivery of the Retail Crime Action Plan. Evaluation on the impact of the Policing Productivity Review will be part of the remit of the new Centre for Police Productivity which was announced at the Spring Budget 2024.
We are continuing to work closely with the retail sector, security representatives, trade associations and policing through the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG), which meets on a quarterly basis, to ensure the response to retail crime, including shoplifting, is as robust as it can be.
Nov. 21 2023
Source Page: UK productivity flash estimate: July to September 2023Found: UK productivity flash estimate: July to September 2023
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to (a) support the manufacturing sector and (b) help increase national productivity.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The government has a strong track record of backing the sector and in November published our Advanced Manufacturing Plan (AMP) which aims to make the UK the best place in the world to start, scale up and invest in manufacturing.
Our plan, which builds on our extensive existing support, is underpinned by a £4.5bn commitment for strategic manufacturing sectors to 2030, a further £16 million to expand SME digital adoption through Made Smarter, provides tax relief and includes measures aimed at improving our business environment including grid connection, supply chain resilience and the UKs first Battery Strategy.
Made Smarter equips businesses with funding and tailored advise from specialists on the successful adoption of applications such as machine learning, data/systems integration and robotics to help drive efficiency, increase automation and raise productivity.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the (a) Public Sector Productivity Programme and (b) NHS productivity plan.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government published detail on the Public Sector Productivity Programme in the Spring Budget. This included the announcement of £4.2 billion to drive productivity in the NHS and the wider public sector, and a separate document, Seizing the Opportunity, that outlined work to date across government to improve efficiency and productivity in counter-fraud, procurement, project management, asset management and digital transformation.
Written Evidence Mar. 20 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: VGI0006 - Delivering value from government investment in major projects The Productivity Institute Written
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote economic growth and productivity whilst supporting monetary policy objectives.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The government has pursued an ambitious policy agenda to boost growth and productivity whilst maintaining fiscal discipline to avoid adding to inflation. High inflation is not conducive to growth, so the government is continuing to support the independent Monetary Policy Committee as it acts to return inflation to the 2% target.
The Government is promoting growth and productivity through:
Mar. 15 2024
Source Page: G7 nations to harness AI and innovation to drive growth and productivityFound: G7 nations to harness AI and innovation to drive growth and productivity