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Opportunity for All
in a World
of Change
We are living in a fast changing world. British businesses can no longer
compete on the basis of low cost, low value added activity. To be successful,
businesses and individuals need to learn new skills and use their knowledge
to produce higher value added goods and services. The task for Government
is to provide the framework in which businesses, communities and individuals
can seize these new opportunities with confidence.
Opportunity for all in a world of change, the Government’s
White Paper on enterprise, skills and innovation, sets out the next steps
for Government.
Sorting out the Fundamentals
The first task for the Government was to sort out the fundamentals: to
establish economic stability. The Government has already:
- made the Bank of England independent;
- entrenched in law the Golden Rule that over the economic cycle the
Government should only borrow to invest;
- cut Corporation tax to its lowest ever level;
- cut Capital Gains Tax to encourage entrepreneurs, reward risk-taking
and promote wider share ownership among employees;
- invested over £1 billion in science – from which the growth
industries of the future will develop; and
- created a strong competition regime.
As a result we now have the lowest inflation and long term interest rates
for 30 years, over a million more people in work than in 1997 and Government
borrowing has been cut by £44 billion.
Businesses can now enjoy the economic stability that is essential for
investing and planning ahead with confidence.
Businesses will also benefit from the major reforms in education. Schools
are delivering the best ever results in literacy and numeracy, a new Learning
and Skills Council with strong business representation is being introduced.
And there is the basis for high quality expansion of university places.
The Challenge Ahead
We need to raise growth, raise living standards further and begin to close
the productivity gap with our international competitors. We must build
on the foundations already laid to spread prosperity to all our regions.
The Government cannot do this alone. Employers must recognise their competitive
position increasingly rests on how they develop and use the skills of
all their people. Businesses must invest in new products, seek out new
markets and develop new partnerships.
Equipping Individuals
with the Skills,
Abilities and Know-how
The Government will:
- enable students to learn in ways which encourage them to be more creative
and enterprising;
- reduce the number of adults with literacy and numeracy problems by
750,000 by 2004 and spend an extra £150 million on literacy and
numeracy training;
- invest £100 million to develop vocational specialisms in colleges
and more resources in reformed Modern Apprenticeships, and rationalise
vocational qualifications;
- train up to 10,000 more people a year in information and communication
technology (ICT) skills through new advanced learning programmes and
widen the pool of recruitment into ICT by moving 5,000 unemployed people
into ICT jobs over the next three years; and
- ensure that employers invest in the skills and talents of all by setting
clear and auditable targets for training, investing £45 million
in a smaller, stronger network of National Training Organisations and
helping small firms to collaborate on training.
Building Strong Regions
and Communities
The Government will:
- establish top class university innovation centres and new technology
institutes in the regions to boost research and development, innovation
and technology transfer and to provide the regions with skills in ICT
and high technology;
- boost enterprise in all regions by launching a new £75 million
incubator fund and developing £50 million of new funding to provide
early stage money for new and growing businesses including those which
rely on intangible assets;
- give special support to manufacturing industry by establishing a new
Manufacturing Advisory Service;
- promote the growth of successful clusters;
- remove constraints to growth by inviting the Regional Development
Agencies to develop strategies for success in their regions; and
- implement the new Job Transition Service, managed by the Employment
Service, to enable individuals affected by large-scale redundancy to
find the right jobs more quickly, and help growing companies tackle
skill shortages.
Investment for Innovation
The Government will:
- provide a further £90 million to promote the commercial exploitation
of research focusing on genomics, basic technologies and e-science;
- accelerate the take-up of broadband technology, providing £30
million for innovative schemes. Our aim is to have the most extensive
and competitive broadband market of any leading industrial country by
2005;
- take action to make the UK the most dynamic and competitive market
for digital TV in the group of seven leading industrial nations, as
measured by take-up, choice and cost;
- provide a further £30 million to increase awareness and understanding
among all businesses of the challenges and opportunities of e-business;
and
- promote markets for new technologies which reduce waste and embark
on a major initiative with industry and others to achieve a UK solar
photovoltaic demonstration programme in line with those of our main
competitors.
Fostering Enterprise
and Growth
The Government will:
- significantly relax insolvency rules for honest businesses and individuals,
while cracking down on the fraudulent or irresponsible;
- give the Office of Fair Trading a new pro-competitive role to spot
existing and proposed regulations which hold back dynamic and competitive
markets; and
- drive forward the Small Business Service strategy “Think Small
First” which requires Government Departments to consider the implications
for small businesses when developing policy or proposing regulations.
Strengthening European
and Global Connections
The Government will:
- launch two new initiatives to attract business talent and ideas to
the UK: an Enterprise Scholarship scheme for the brightest and best
young graduates and a drive to encourage experienced British entrepreneurs
abroad to establish companies in the UK;
- strengthen our support for British business on the global stage by
launching a global partnership programme to help our firms into international
collaboration at home and overseas, with the world’s best as their
partners; and
- set in hand a major study to quantify the benefits of achieving European
economic reform to our people and businesses with the objective of making
Europe the most dynamic knowledge economy in the world by 2010.
Copies of the full White Paper
Opportunity for all in a world of change
are available from:
The Stationery Office Publications Centre
Tel: 020 7873 0011
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