Pulling Together: Strengthening the UK’s Supply Chains

Pulling Together recommends ways to kick start the UK’s supply chains, and solutions to reinvigorate Britain’s industrial strategy.

Based on new research carried out by A.T. Kearney, the global management consultancy firm, the report reveals under investment in research and development (R&D), a growing skills crisis and weakened foundation industries that are key to advanced manufacturing - such as plastics, metals and chemicals.

To tackle these issues, the CBI is urging the Government and business to act together to strengthen supply chains, focusing on innovation, better quality products, and excellent customer service. Among the measures the UK’s leading business group is calling for are:

• Setting a long-term target for public and private sector spending on R&D to rise to 3% of GDP
• Widening the R&D tax credit to support the later stages of the commercialisation and manufacture of innovative British products
• Doubling spending on the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, over the course of the next parliament
• Financially incentivising science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees, and ensuring more graduates take up jobs in these sectors
• Creating a national materials strategy, as part of our industrial strategy, to protect and enhance critical supply chain sub-sectors.