Select committee warns government鈥檚 strategy is not co-ordinated

Planning Houses

An influential group of MPs has criticised the government for failing to 鈥渟pell out鈥� its approach to construction and tackling the housing shortage in its much-vaunted industrial strategy.

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee highlighted the failure of the recent industrial strategy and housing white paper 鈥渢o spell out how government and the construction industry could collaborate to tackle the housing challenge鈥�.

The criticism comes after a leaked Whitehall document recently revealed the government considered the construction sector to be 鈥渓ow priorirty鈥� in its forthcoming Brexit negotiations, leading Lord Andrew Stunell to warn in a House of Lords Brexit debate that the sector had been 鈥渟o far completely ignored鈥�.

The select committee report on the government鈥檚 industrial strategy also warned a lack of co-ordination could scupper the effectiveness of the strategy, pointing to what it called 鈥渆arly signs that the government is failing to pursue a co-ordinated approach to industrial strategy across Whitehall鈥�.

The committee, headed by Labour鈥檚 Iain Wright, found the Green Paper to be similar to 2015鈥檚 Productivity Plan, consisting of what it described as 鈥渁 long list of policy interventions [that lacked] the framework for future decision-making which should be the core of a long-term strategy鈥�.

Wright said: 鈥淭heresa May鈥檚 stated commitment of an economy that works for everyone and to a more active role for government in our economy and an Industrial Strategy is a very welcome development. The UK鈥檚 headline economic success has been felt by too few and that too many parts of the country have not felt the benefits of growth.

鈥淗owever, an Industrial Strategy can only begin to help tackle these issues if it recognises that an economy can have a direction of travel, has a vision, and is ambitious, and co-ordinated right across government.

鈥淓arly tests such as the Housing White Paper do not suggest a government which is willing to answer the tough questions required to deliver an 鈥榚conomy that works for everyone鈥�,鈥� he added.

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