Hammond delivers plan for productivity

This is the view of Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who today delivered an Autumn Statement geared toward increasing productivity through improvements to infrastructure, boosting funding for R&D, and investing in transport.

“We choose in this Autumn Statement to prioritise additional high-value investment, specifically in infrastructure and innovation, that will directly contribute to raising Britain’s productivity,” Hammond told Parliament. “Raising productivity is essential for the high-wage, high-skill economy that will deliver higher living standards for working people.”

To bring these plans to fruition, the chancellor announced a £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund that will be spent on innovation and infrastructure over the next five years.

As announced by the PM Theresa May on Monday 21 November, 2016 at the CBI’s Annual Conference, a proportion of this fund will go toward the £2bn per year that will be spent on R&D by 2020/21.

As part of the National Productivity Investment Fund, new investment in England’s transport infrastructure will include £1.1bn invested in local transport networks, £220m to address traffic pinch points on strategic roads; and a £27m expressway to connect Cambridge and Oxford.