National Productivity Week 27th January 2025 | Visit Website

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.

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

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

Working closely with
policymakers

Productivity Policy Unit

A new initiative launched by The Productivity Institute in response to the UK government’s focus on economic growth, net zero, and better healthcare. We recognise that productivity is a key driver for achieving these missions.

The Productivity Policy Unit (PPU) ultimately aims to inform and influence the policy debate on productivity. The goal is to see our work have a tangible impact on policy decisions and improve living standards across the UK and in its first 6 months the PPU will focus on Industrial Strategy, Local growth plans and regional opportunities; the Skills Agenda; Public Sector Productivity; and Business Support and Knowledge Diffusion.

Led by Professor Andy Westwood, the PPU bridges the gap between research and policy action by translating the Institute’s research into concrete policy ideas. Our team of experienced researchers and policy experts, including Professor Dame Diane Coyle, Professor Stephen Roper, and Professor Nigel Driffield, work with policymakers, thought leaders, and researchers to develop and advocate for pro-productivity policies.

 

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Productivity has to be at the core of the new Government’s agenda

To achieve this, the UK needs a broad-based and integrated set of policies. These policies should above all support business and public investment in skills, innovation, and the transition to a net-zero economy across all sectors, devolved nations, and regions in the UK. While there is still scope to grow the economy faster by increasing workforce participation and creating opportunities for older workers to keep working longer, as acknowledged in the parties’ manifestos, raising economic growth will be difficult without significantly increasing the productivity of our labour force.

Read A productivity plan for the next UK Government to discover our top 10 policies for the new UK Government focused on Productivity.

 

Productivity
Commission

The Productivity Commission is the policy arm of The Productivity Institute and regularly meets to discuss ongoing policy questions throughout the UK.

It is an independent academic forum for the development of research-based policies and a focal point for Whitehall initiatives. We aim to develop and support a new constituency to support the national debate on productivity and promoting robust and consistent policies to address the UK’s chronic productivity shortfall.

The Commission aims to understand the policy implications of research produced by The Productivity Institute and elsewhere, as well as develop strong institutional links with government and other national bodies. It was launched on 16 September, 2021 by our partner NIESR.

The first evidence review can be accessed on NIESR’s website.

The publication UK Productivity Commission Priorities for 2023 was released on 19 January 2023, which sets out some questions for the year, with particular focus on investment.

The Commissioners are:

Professor Jagjit Chadha NIESR (chair)

Professor Bart van Ark The University of Manchester

Professor Alan Barrett Economic and Social Research Institute

Professor Gillian Bristow University of Cardiff

Professor Diane Coyle Bennett Institute of Public Policy, Cambridge

Dawn Holland Moody’s Analytics and Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

Professor Eileen Harkin-Jones Ulster University

Rachel Lomax Formerly HMT and BoE

Stephen Millard NIESR

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli University of Glasgow

Professor Adrian Pabst NIESR

Dr. Dirk Pilat

Professor Sir Chris Pissarides London School of Economics

Professor Tony Venables University of Manchester

Professor Jackie Wahba University of Southampton

Professor Stian Westlake Royal Statistical Society

Professor Andy Westwood University of Manchester

Professor Cecilia Wong University of Manchester

Over the next three years, The Commission will hold evidence sessions that focus on specific policy issues. A report containing suggestions to the Government for how the UK can improve its productivity will be published after the evidence sessions. The Commission will also examine different ways to hear from productivity experts, such as presentations from authors of policy papers and the various productivity boards around the world.

More information on how to get involved can be found through our partner NIESR.

Regional Forums

The forums are involved in the implementation of research insights, the design of practical business and policy interventions, and in providing input to the development of the Institute’s future research agenda.

Their members include stakeholders from policy community and business leaders from local, national and multinational enterprises. Each Regional Productivity Forum is chaired by a regional business leader and supported by a Regional Forum Lead from each of the partner universities.

The eight Forums are based in:

Insights

Finance, Investment and Productivity Growth

Call for entries: contributions to the Elgar Encyclopedia of Productivity

Can an industrial strategy help drive productivity growth?