National Productivity Week 27th January 2025 | Visit Website

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Event: How can the new government’s industrial strategy help boost productivity?

Our joint event with the Institute for Government on Wednesday 18 September 2024, 17:30 — 18:30 (BST) will see an expert panel discuss how industrial strategy can help restore productivity growth. Register on the Institute for Government website.


The UK’s productivity record since the financial crisis has been dismal. In the long term, the country cannot become more prosperous and afford the public services it needs without reversing this trend.

The new Labour government has committed to boosting growth as one of its five missions for government and set out its intention to put industrial strategy at the heart of its policy making. But how can industrial strategy help to restore productivity growth? This event will explore the relationship between growth and industrial strategy.

We will be joined by an expert panel, including:

  • Dame Kate Barker, Chair of The Productivity Institute’s Governing Council
  • Rt Hon Greg Clark, former Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
  • Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute and Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester
  • Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government

This event will be chaired by Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.

Some of the questions this event will address are:

  • How can industrial strategy help address the causes of low productivity?
  • Should an industrial strategy pick sectors to support and how can success be evaluated?
  • Who will ultimately be responsible for the industrial strategy and how will the government co-ordinate the different perspectives?

This event will be held at the Institute for Government’s offices at 2 Carlton Gardens, London. Register on the Institute for Government website.