Consultations and Proposals

• The Eddington Transport Study
• The Barker Review of Land Use Planning
• The Leitch Review on Skills
• The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property
• The Varney Review of Public Service Delivery

A significant number of consultations and studies of interest to businesses were commissioned to coincide with the Pre-Budget Report.

The Eddington Transport Study

Sir Rod Eddington's review of the transport system has highlighted the long-term links between transport and the UK's economic productivity, growth and stability.

The report, which was commissioned by the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Transport in 2005, recommends that the Government should focus on improving the performance of existing transport networks, in those places that are important to the UK’s economic success.

The review suggests that over the course of the next 20 years, the Government's three strategic economic priorities should be:

• growing and congested urban areas and their catchments
• key inter-urban corridors
• key international gateways that are showing signs of congestion and unreliability.

The report also emphasises the environmental impact of transport, and recommends that the transport sector, including aviation, should meet its full environmental costs.

In particular, it advises the Government to press ahead with trial road pricing schemes in England, in order to deal with the increasing problem of congestion and the impact of vehicle emissions. The report suggests that a system of road pricing could halve congestion and raise billions of pounds in revenue.

You can view a pdf of the full report on the HM Treasury website, here:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/39A/41/eddington_execsum11206.pdf

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 The Barker Review of Land Use Planning

Also in association with the Pre-Budget Report, Kate Barker has published her final report on the Land Use Planning System in England. The independent review was commissioned in December 2005 by the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister, with the aim of improving the transparency and flexibility of the planning system.

The report highlights the vital role which is played by planning in the delivery of sustainable economic development, and acknowledges the high costs placed on developers, business and communities when the planning system is slow and bureaucratic.

Kate Barker has made a number of recommendations aimed at streamlining processes and improving efficiency, including:

• A substantial rationalisation of national planning guidance to provide a clearer and more transparent national policy framework
• improving local plan-making processes so that plans can be drawn up in 18-24 months, rather than 36-42
• introducing a more risk-based and proportionate approach to regulation, with a significant reduction in the amount of paperwork required to support applications
• greater certainty of timescales with new, individually tailored agreements between planning authorities and developers
• faster processing of appeals, with all appeals from 2008/09 to take place within six months
• a radical overhaul of the planning system for major infrastructure projects, including transport, waste and energy, in line with the findings of the Eddington Transport Study, in order to improve speed and certainty.

The report also makes a number of recommendations for enhancing the flexibility and responsiveness of the planning system to support sustainable economic growth for the 300,000 business applications received each year. These include allowing minor changes to commercial premises, including the use of microgeneration technology such as small wind turbines and solar panels, without the need for planning permission.

The full text of the Barker Review can be viewed here:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/4EB/AF/barker_finalreport051206.pdf

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The Leitch Review on Skills

The Pre-Budget Report also saw the publication of the final report on the UK's long-term skills needs, which was commissioned by the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2004. 

The report, which was conducted by Lord Leitch, has recommended radical change across the skills spectrum, with the aim of making the UK a world leader in skills by 2020. The key recommendations include: 

• Increasing skill attainments at all levels
• Routing public funding of vocational skills through Train to Gain and Learner Accounts
• Strengthening the employer voice on skills, through the creation of a new Commission for Employment & Skills, increasing employer engagement and investment in skills, reforming Sector Skills Councils who will simplify and approve vocational training
• Launching a new 'pledge' for employers to voluntarily train more employees at work
• Increasing employer investment in higher level qualifications and training in the workplace
• Raising awareness of the value of skills, with a new universal adult careers service to diagnose skill needs
• The introduction of compulsory education or workplace training up to age 18
• Integrating the public employment and skills services to deliver sustainable employment. 

The full report can be viewed on the following link:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/523/43/leitch_finalreport051206.pdf

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The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property

The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property has also been published in conjunction with the Pre-Budget Report.

Andrew Gowers was commissioned by the Chancellor in December 2005 to conduct an independent review into the UK Intellectual Property Framework. The review sets out a number of recommendations aimed at delivering an Intellectual Property (IP) framework which is 'fit for the digital age'.

The principle recommendations focus on:

• tackling IP crime and ensuring that rights are well enforced
• reducing the costs and complexity of the system
• reforming copyright law to allow individuals and institutions to use content in ways consistent with the digital age.

 The full report can be accessed here:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53F/C8/pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf  

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The Varney Review of Public Service Delivery 

Also appearing alongside the Pre-Budget Report was Sir David Varney's review of Public Service Delivery. 

The report was commissioned by the Chancellor at the time of the 2006 Budget, with the aim of improving the delivery of public services, making them more efficient and responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses. 

The key recommendations include: 

• introducing a 'change of circumstances' service starting with bereavement, birth and change of address by 2010, so that citizens don't have to notify multiple public services
• providing citizens and businesses with single information and transactional websites through Directgov and Businesslink.gov
• improving public sector contact centre performance, including reducing operating costs by 25% to release £400m
• developing a cross-government identity management system to enable greater personalisation of services and to reduce duplication across government. 

The full report can be viewed here:
http://ww.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53D/F2/pbr06_varney_review.pdf

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