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Lord Adonis launches review into UK growth plans Lord Adonis launches review into UK growth plans
(2 months later)
Lord Adonis, credited with pushing radical public service reform under the last Labour government, is launching a review into future plans for growth in the UK.Lord Adonis, credited with pushing radical public service reform under the last Labour government, is launching a review into future plans for growth in the UK.
Labour critics have said the party has collectively focused too much on macro-economic solutions to growth and insufficiently on an over-arching story about the sources of growth in the UK.Labour critics have said the party has collectively focused too much on macro-economic solutions to growth and insufficiently on an over-arching story about the sources of growth in the UK.
The six-month review, being launched on Wednesday with the approval of Labour's leader Ed Miliband, will try to look what is holding Britain back in terms of infrastructure, skills, transport and unemployment.The six-month review, being launched on Wednesday with the approval of Labour's leader Ed Miliband, will try to look what is holding Britain back in terms of infrastructure, skills, transport and unemployment.
Adonis's earlier findings on the failure of the government's further education system were a centrepiece of Miliband's One Nation speech to the last Labour conference. The Labour spokesman in the Lords for industry aims to build on the ambitious Heseltine review that he fears is not being implemented by government and was anyway constrained by government policy.Adonis's earlier findings on the failure of the government's further education system were a centrepiece of Miliband's One Nation speech to the last Labour conference. The Labour spokesman in the Lords for industry aims to build on the ambitious Heseltine review that he fears is not being implemented by government and was anyway constrained by government policy.
It is likely to contain a similar call for a decentralisation of power from Whitehall, and look at new ways of forming combined growth partnerships between local government and businesses at the regional level. He insists he is anxious not to be involved in tinkering with the existing Local Enterprise Partnerships, or reshaping Whitehall departments.It is likely to contain a similar call for a decentralisation of power from Whitehall, and look at new ways of forming combined growth partnerships between local government and businesses at the regional level. He insists he is anxious not to be involved in tinkering with the existing Local Enterprise Partnerships, or reshaping Whitehall departments.
Adonis said: "The last Labour government renewed the public services. The imperative now is to promote more and better jobs by radically improving skills, the national infrastructure, levels of business innovation, and the strength of key industrial sectors. Government needs to be far more engaged and hands-on to make this happen.  Adonis said: "The last Labour government renewed the public services. The imperative now is to promote more and better jobs by radically improving skills, the national infrastructure, levels of business innovation, and the strength of key industrial sectors. Government needs to be far more engaged and hands-on to make this happen.  
He added: "The status quo is dire: youth unemployment of a million, Britain with one of the worst infrastructures in the developed world, including a massive housing shortage, pitiful levels of investment and R&D across much of the economy, and lacklustre export performance. He added: "The status quo is dire: youth unemployment of a million, Britain with one of the worst infrastructures in the developed world, including a massive housing shortage, pitiful levels of investment and R&D across much of the economy, and lacklustre export performance. 
"Britain is stagnant, with 2.5 million unemployed and a squeeze on real living standards, and all this needs to change. I hope to chart a credible strategy for change in all these key areas.""Britain is stagnant, with 2.5 million unemployed and a squeeze on real living standards, and all this needs to change. I hope to chart a credible strategy for change in all these key areas."
He said in practice this might mean "for starters a doubling or trebling of the number of youth apprenticeships" . He said in practice this might mean "for starters a doubling or trebling of the number of youth apprenticeships" . 
He went on: "There are only a third as many youth apprenticeships as higher education places for school leavers, which is far too few. The number of youth apprentices needs to double or treble – and the government needs to take the lead as an employer and in the way it procures infrastructure and services, joining up skills policy with a much more active state machine. A similarly radical strategy is required for infrastructure, innovation, exports, and promoting key industrial sectors."He went on: "There are only a third as many youth apprenticeships as higher education places for school leavers, which is far too few. The number of youth apprentices needs to double or treble – and the government needs to take the lead as an employer and in the way it procures infrastructure and services, joining up skills policy with a much more active state machine. A similarly radical strategy is required for infrastructure, innovation, exports, and promoting key industrial sectors."
Adonis said the Heseltine review "was good on the weaknesses of BIS [the department for Business, Innovation and Skills] in forging and driving innovation and growth policies. But it had little to say about infrastructure, where Britain has a poor record. It discussed the funding flows, but not the content of skills policy, where radical change is needed"Adonis said the Heseltine review "was good on the weaknesses of BIS [the department for Business, Innovation and Skills] in forging and driving innovation and growth policies. But it had little to say about infrastructure, where Britain has a poor record. It discussed the funding flows, but not the content of skills policy, where radical change is needed"
He added the Heseltine review had to take for granted the existing pattern of generally weak Local Enterprise Partnerships as the agents to drive local growth, since these were the government's flagship creation after the wholesale abolition of the Regional Development Agencies in 2010/11.He added the Heseltine review had to take for granted the existing pattern of generally weak Local Enterprise Partnerships as the agents to drive local growth, since these were the government's flagship creation after the wholesale abolition of the Regional Development Agencies in 2010/11.
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