Spending Review ‘as good as could be expected’ but ‘salami slicing’ must stop, say manufacturers

EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler (pictured), said the next spending review had give industry the certainty it needed to invest for the long term. "We need to move away from the repeated salami-slicing of the same departments time after time to a longer-term approach that puts all the options on the table'" he went on. "Government must take a hard look at the areas on which it should focus to create a modern, competitive economy." Scuoler acknowledged a commitment to key infrastructure projects as being "vital, if long overdue", but adding that, so far, the record on delivering major infrastructure projects was "woeful". He welcomed what he described as "a phased approach" that gave local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) "the opportunity to demonstrate their value in important areas like transport before more taxpayers money is devolved". Additional funding for the Technology Strategy Board demonstrated the importance that government is now placing on supporting innovation as well as science, he added. On skills, Scuoler said: "The government has taken the right path on skills by maintaining funding for apprenticeships and taking further steps to put employers, not providers, in control of skills funding." Juergen Maier, MD of Siemens Industry UK, welcomed the news of more funding for infrastructure projects, as well as increased R&D funds, but called for detail on where this would be spent. There were also some important gaps, said Maier: "We need to hear more on the creation of a business bank, and the £2bn growth pot for LEPs is much short of the £49bn Lord Heseltine and industry recommended. So more can be done to boost growth, which we know will bring down long term debt."