A diverse community of
leading experts, policymakers
and practitioners

The Institute’s key research themes
are led by ten academic partners
spread across the UK.

Businesses are crucial to solving
the UK’s productivity problems.

We’re a UK-wide research
organisation exploring what
productivity means for business

Businesses are crucial to solving
the UK’s productivity problems.

Productivity Commission: first evidence session

The Productivity Commission’s first evidence session is on ‘Sizing the productivity problem: international, national, regional and sectoral aspects’. It will be live streamed on Tuesday 23 November 2021 from 09:00 onwards by our partners, NIESR.

Terms of reference

  • What is the scale of the UK’s productivity problem, and how has this changed since 2008?
  • Is productivity measured correctly in the UK, and is it measured differently across countries?
  • How does the UK’s productivity compare on a regional basis?
  • Why do some regions have better productivity growth than others?
  • How does the UK’s productivity compare on a sectoral basis?
  • Why do some sectors or firms have better productivity growth than others?
  • Are the higher-performing companies a “tightly-knit bunch” geographically and sectorally, and how have they bucked the UK trend?
  • Are the lower-performing companies confined to particular regions or sectors?
  • What, if anything, is preventing lower-performing companies from learning how to be more productive from the higher-performing companies?
  • How does the productivity of large companies compare with SMEs?
  • How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the UK’s productivity performance?
  • How is the change in working habits (e.g. working from home, flexible working) affecting UK productivity?
  • Have large city centres been affected with commuters and tourists staying away?
  • What role has technology adoption and penetration played in productivity growth?

Date(s)

  • 23 November 2021

Time(s)

  • 9:00 am - 11:30 am
More information