Unions welcome Heseltine proposals

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady welcomed the news that the government is to adopt the overwhelming majority of the recommendations contained in the report while Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the manufacturers' organisation EEF said the government had heeded its call for a focus on growth. O'Grady said: "Hopefully we are seeing the beginnings of a new co-ordinated approach to industry across government to generate much-needed growth in the economy and establish a secure future for UK manufacturing. "A single pot of money to help drive growth across the UK that will be managed by a network of local enterprise partnerships will help focus much-needed investment in the regions. "Similarly the establishment of ten sector councils along the lines of the current automotive council suggests that ministers understand that our industrial sector can only succeed with the active involvement of government. "We welcome the acceptance of Lord Heseltine's recommendation for a national growth strategy, with targets to which it can be held to account. Scuoler said the government was right to decentralise funding "where there is clear evidence that it can deliver better value for money and would be good for growth" and the creation of local growth teams would also promote more coordinated local action by government. He continued: "However, the government must get the content of the Single Pot right. The evidence shows that we will get the best bang for our buck by giving employers, who invest in training, control of skills budgets rather than parcelling them out to local bodies. "Between now and 2015, we need to see a step change in the capabilities of LEPs and their understanding of their local economies." However, on Heathrow, Scuoler said it was a mistake not to heed Lord Heseltine's call for a quicker decision on airport capacity. He welcomed a commitment to look at streamlining UK immigration rules to help ensure businesses can recruit skills they need from abroad and praised a commitment to long-term stability of funding for science and research, and urged that the new Business Bank should be increasing competition in SME banking on the high street.