Blog

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the UK’s productivity.

Mr Edward Vaizey

SQW Consulting’s UK Broadband impact study in 2013 estimates that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024.

This Government is helping increase productivity across the UK by investing in and widening access to key digital infrastructure. We are on track to deliver our commitment to provide superfast broadband coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2017.Our£40m Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme was taken up by over 55,000 small and medium sized businesses – who employ a million people right across the UK and are already reporting, on average, a £1,300 per year increase in profits and a new job being created for every four new connections. ThePrime Minister recentlyannounced plans to ensure that every home and business can have access to fast broadband by the end of this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the provision of high-speed broadband infrastructure on productivity.

Mr Edward Vaizey

SQW Consulting’s UK Broadband impact study in 2013 estimates that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024.

This Government is helping increase productivity across the UK by investing in and widening access to key digital infrastructure. We are on track to deliver our commitment to provide superfast broadband coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2017.Our£40m Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme was taken up by over 55,000 small and medium sized businesses – who employ a million people right across the UK and are already reporting, on average, a £1,300 per year increase in profits and a new job being created for every four new connections. ThePrime Minister recentlyannounced plans to ensure that every home and business can have access to fast broadband by the end of this Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2015-11-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that an approach supply of finance to productive investment is available to help increase productivity.

Greg Hands

The government is committed to boosting productivity growth and narrowing the gap with other leading advanced economies. In July 2015 the government published ‘Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation’; a comprehensive plan that sets the agenda to reverse the UK’s long-term productivity problem.

The financial services sector has a dual role in supporting UK productivity. As well as its own productivity performance, it is critical for supporting the rest of the economy, allocating resources and facilitating long term productive investment. In the latest remit letter to the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England, the Chancellor highlighted the importance of a stable financial system providing finance for productive investment.

To promote the provision of finance to support productive investment, it is important that it can be measured accurately. The Bank of England, working with HM Treasury, have initiated research to create a better measurement of ‘finance for productive investment’ covering all asset classes and all stages of finance, with a view to publishing the data on a regular basis.