Building Back Britain Commission sets out Blueprint for Growth

The UK could benefit from a £82billion boost to the economy by addressing the underlying barriers that are holding back growth across local communities: from poor mobile and transport connectivity to a shortage of suitable and affordable housing.

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According to the Building Back Britain Commission's new report, prioritising digital infrastructure investment, boosting the number of expert planners, giving pharmacies even more powers to help treat people quickly and harnessing the power of AI technologies are just a few ways that the government can help boost the UK’s productivity levels.

This new report says that the government should work more closely with the private sector to crowd in investment that targets specific barriers to growth in different areas of the country.

Analysis in the report, produced by economists at WPI Strategy, suggests that increasing the productivity levels in 146 local authorities by just 1% could deliver a £82billion boost to the economy over the next five years.

To realise these gains, the Commission has set out a series of practical recommendations including:

 

• The creation of a ‘Pipeline Fund’ to help speed up planning decisions. The privately financed and independently administered Fund would be used to allocate experienced planners to local authorities which have a serious shortage in their own teams.
   

• Empower every Mayor to create a Data Hub using private and public sector data in order to monitor and improve economic performance in real time through a better understanding of economic activity, demographics and need in their local areas.
   

• Revising the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) further to expand the criteria for what is considered nationally significant infrastructure to include 5G masts and fibre infrastructure.
   

• Increasing the number of NHS services available on the NHS App and running a targeted advertising campaign to ensure vulnerable and hard to reach groups are aware of the new prescription services available in local pharmacies rather than at GPs or local hospitals.
   

• Creating a 'skills passport' to embed and track essential career readiness competencies – including data literacy and AI fluency - so all young people are equipped for the evolving workplace beyond academic achievement.

The report recommends that a Productivity Council is set up in the Treasury across each of the five pillars identified by the Commission to work closely with the private sector to deliver on these plans.

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Please see here for the full report - View here