Autumn Statement: some positives for business schools

In today's Autumn Statement, there were a few announcements that may prove to be positive for business schools.

• There will be £23bn allocated over five years to a National Productivity Investment Fund that concentrates on innovation and infrastructure. £2bn of this will be reserved for Research and Development, largely in STEM areas, although there is an emphasis on commercialisation of science and technology, so we can certainly make a bid for some of this money to come the way of business schools.
• LEPs will not only continue, but £1.8bn has been assigned to support them. One of our recommendations in our Delivering Value report was for this funding to be continued, so this is very pleasing. We will continue to connect with the national LEP Network, to support the relationships our members already have with individual LEPs.
• The Government has pledged unquantified financial support for Charlie Mayfield’s Productivity Council which aims to improve management capability to drive forward productivity. The plan is for this to be business-led, but the Chartered ABS has already held meetings with the group working on this.

As the detail behind some of these announcements are released we will engage with the relevant partners to ensure the business school voice is heard and that the work of business schools is supported.