CMI reaction to the Budget
Chartered Management Institute
Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, the professional body for leadership and management, has reacted to the budget.
It’s great that the Chancellor is to extend the National Productivity Investment Fund to £31bn, including significant spend on R&D, tech and AI. But investment will be wasted unless we also invest in managers to lead.
Already the new Apprenticeship Levy shows how employers are investing in those skills that they most need, with management, digital and engineering leading the way. Yet, the new National Retraining Scheme with £30m to support digital and construction skills, is missing out on the management skills so sorely needed.
The Chancellor opened by recognising that productivity remains stubbornly flat. Yet the government still stubbornly ignores the impact of management skills, when both the OECD and the Bank of England show that quality management and leadership is the number-one driver of productivity.
We hope the Transforming Cities Fund of £1.7bn will better recognise the skills needed across the regions, and we will look forward to further detail in the Industrial Strategy about how this management gap can be closed.
