Contact UsChancellor urged to raise productivity by spending more on manufacturing
Britain's manufacturing lobby has called on George Osborne to protect infrastructure and investment spending Manufacturers and retailers are offering to do more to improve Britain’s dismal productivity performance in return for stronger support for infrastructure investment, research and tax incentives to encourage higher rates of pay. The productivity challenge, one of the Chancellor’s priorities, is highlighted in reports released by the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) in an effort to influence next month’s Budget. The EEF has invested heavily in promoting suggestions and policies in a paper that predicts 40pc of the next decade’s productivity gains will come from the manufacturing sector. Ahead of an upcoming Treasury report, the organisation argues that the Government must not cut back spending on infrastructure or research. The business lobby, which represents 5,000 members, calculated that in the past five years output per hour has risen four times faster in manufacturing than across the economy as a whole. Economists have argued that productivity growth is vital to ensure living standards continue to rise. The EEF found that manufacturers spend six times more on R&D than their output share of the economy. Read more
Stronger construction sector boosts UK economy
GDP growth in the first quarter was better than first thought, following changes to the way construction output is measured. The UK economy is in better shape than previously thought, it emerged on Tuesday, after statisticians took a fresh look at the health of the construction sector. GDP rose by 0.4pc in the first quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, faster than its previous estimate of a 0.3pc increase, but a slowdown from the 0.6pc growth reported at the end of last year. The ONS also said that GDP growth last year reached 3pc, rather than the 2.8pc previously reported. Joe Grice, chief economist at the ONS, said that the upward revision to first quarter growth “is down largely to the recently announced new methods to measure construction output” The ONS has since December been using mathematical models to estimate the construction’s strength, rather than the hard data it had before. This month the ONS revamped the way it calculates output, bringing its measurements of the sector’s strength “closer to reality”, analysts said. Output in the sector is now estimated to have decreased by 0.2pc in the first quarter, rather than the 1.6pc drop initially...
Small business group calls for tax reform in Emergency Budget
The Federation of Small Businesses is seeking tax simplification and reform in the Emergency Budget. BRITAIN'S small businesses have called on the chancellor to reform the tax system - particularly around business rates - in the upcoming Emergency Budget. In its first submission to the new government, The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged George Osborne to "strengthen the landscape for small businesses" and enterprise by continuing to reduce the deficit, stimulate growth and back ambitious small businesses. The body has added its voice to those - including former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King - seeking reform of the business rates, which many believe is outdated and penalises businesses that require physical property to run. A review is already underway, and the FSB is seeking assurances it will provide "a new, fully reformed system that is flexible, fair, transparent and efficiently administered". The review is set to report back before the 2016 Budget, will look at how businesses use property, what the UK can learn from other countries about local business taxes, and how the system can be modernised to better reflect changes in the value of property. The group praised the seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) - which provides...
Large UK firms to be required to reveal gender pay gap
David Cameron to confirm large businesses will be compelled to reveal average pay for male and female staff LARGE BUSINESSES will soon be required to publish average pay for male and female workers under a new law established by parliament. David Cameron will announce the measure today as he pledges to "end the gender pay gap in a generation". Chancellor George Osborne announced in last week's Budget a new national living wage which will take the rate for over-25s up to £9 an hour by 2020, a move said to help women who tend to be in lower-paid jobs. Cameron admits there is a "need to go further" and hopes the laws on reporting pay "will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women's wages up". The gender pay gap is currently at 19.1%, which means a woman earns on average 80p for every £1 earned by a man. In the UK, there is an average of 7,000 large businesses with over 250 employees; only 5 of these have published gender pay figures under a voluntary approach. The policy is expected to come into force in the first half of next year and...