According to the Building Back Britain Commission's new report, prioritising digital infrastructure investment, boosting the number of expert planners, giving pharmacies even more powers to help treat people quickly and harnessing the power of AI technologies are just a few ways that the government can help boost the UK’s productivity levels.

The UK could benefit from a £82 billion boost to the economy by addressing the underlying barriers that are holding back growth across local communities: from poor mobile and transport connectivity to a shortage of suitable and affordable housing.

To realise these gains, the Commission has set out a series of practical recommendations including:

• The creation of a ‘Pipeline Fund’ to help speed up planning decisions. The privately financed and independently administered Fund would be used to allocate experienced planners to local authorities which have a serious shortage in their own teams.

• Empower every Mayor to create a Data Hub using private and public sector data in order to monitor and improve economic performance in real time through a better understanding of economic activity, demographics and need in their local areas.

• Revising the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) further to expand the criteria for what is considered nationally significant infrastructure to include 5G masts and fibre infrastructure.

• Increasing the number of NHS services available on the NHS App and running a targeted advertising campaign to ensure vulnerable and hard to reach groups are aware of the new prescription services available in local pharmacies rather than at GPs or local hospitals.

• Creating a 'skills passport' to embed and track essential career readiness competencies – including data literacy and AI fluency - so all young people are equipped for the evolving workplace beyond academic achievement.

Claire Ainsley, Chair of the Building Back Britain Commission and former Director of Policy to Keir Starmer, said:

“The Government must act early in this parliament to close the productivity gap if it is to deliver growth and raise living standards. The solutions are clear, cost-effective, and ready to implement. Our businesses stand ready to partner with government to get this done. We’ve shown that smart, targeted policies can yield big returns.”

Please see here for the full report.