The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has suggested the government to boost productivity and investment via a more flexible apprenticeship levy as a first step towards the growth and skills levy and expand the Made Smarter Programme enabling digital adoption to support a skilled and reliable workforce.

In its recent Autumn Budget Submission, the trade body urged the government to build confidence in the transition to net zero by utilising tax incentives to drive investment into high-growth green technologies and bolster business certainty with a Business Tax Roadmap alongside long-term business rates reform.

Trade body CBI has suggested the UK government to boost productivity and investment via a more flexible apprenticeship levy and expand the Made Smarter Programme to support a skilled and reliable workforce.
In its Autumn Budget Submission, it called for building confidence in the transition to net zero by utilising tax incentives to drive investment into high-growth green technologies.

With private capital in no short supply, key to delivering growth will be how the government and the industry work together to unlock it. Empowered by the right levers, business can switch gears to accelerate investment with confidence and certainty, CBI said in a release.

“Partnership is the key to solving the complex challenges firms are facing. Budgets are always a prioritisation of choices. For business the choice is clear: choose growth. By harnessing the innovation and insights of business, we can crowd in the private sector investment needed to scale our economy to new heights and fund our public services,” CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said.

Businesses can only invest and be more productive if they have the support of a reliable workforce, equipped with the right skills. The government can support them by adding flexibility on which courses can be funded by the Apprenticeship Levy now while setting a timeline to implement the growth and skills levy, CBI said.

Expanding the Made Smarter Programme to all corners and sectors of the economy as part of a long-term National Technology Adoption Strategy would allow businesses in low-productivity sectors, especially small and medium enterprises, to accelerate their technology adoption journeys, boosting operational resilience and productivity, it noted.

Announcing an ambitious package of non-taxable health support would make it easier for employers to invest in the health of their employees and support the government’s own target of reducing economic inactivity due to ill health and achieving an 80-per cent employment rate, it said.

Green tax incentives should form part of a comprehensive strategy to promote high-growth green technologies. A new Green Innovation Credit, a 10-per cent corporation tax rate for green profits as well as an enhanced green super-deduction would help unlock private sector research and development and ensure the UK remains internationally competitive as it seizes the prize of green growth.

The government can accelerate the transition to Net Zero by linking the UK and European Union carbon pricing systems, to improve the attractiveness of the emissions trading market and accelerate decarbonisation, CBI suggested.

A linkage of the two systems would prevent carbon leakage and prevent costly implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

A Net Zero investment plan outlining investment requirements, targets and a delivery plan for reaching net zero emissions by 2025 would crowd-in private investment to maximise growth in sectors receiving public investment, CBI added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)