Today we're discussing the government's initiative to develop an industrial strategy

that aims to underpin business growth and enhanced productivity.

I'm Gayna Bagley, PWC's Head of Corporate Purpose, and I'm joined by Andrew Sentence,

PWC's Senior Economic Advisor.

So Andrew, to begin with, why do you think the government needs an industrial strategy?

Well, I think there are two reasons.

One is a longer term issue, which is to do with the slow growth of productivity across

not just the UK but other economies.

But also we are entering this Brexit process and so we need to

ensure that the UK economy is in the best possible shape to meet the challenges whatever they

are of working outside the European Union though we hope we will have a strong trading

relationship with the European Union, though we hope we will have a strong trading relationship with the

European Union. And that means businesses and industries need to be as competitive as they can be

in the current environment. Okay, that's interesting. So it's a really thoughtful document.

It sets out a long-term strategy. What do you think will be the thing that will make the most difference?

What's the important thing we've got to bear in mind?

Well, I don't think this is one single thing.

I think there are four broad issues that are going to make the difference

between whether the UK economy and business is successful or whether it's not in the future.

I think the first is skills in education.

And here we've put a lot of emphasis in PWC on vocational education and technical skills

because that's probably been the area where we've underperformed.

...