Industrial Strategy: Grand Challenge
Missions: Is it such a grand vision for a potential Post-Brexit
Britain??
Today PM May unveiled the Government's
new approach towards the facilitation of an Industrial Strategy for
the UK, one which the PM and others within the Conservative sphere of
political influence believe will address some of the key issues
affecting people living in the UK today. The 4 Grand Challenges
highlighted are meant to be solved with core British industrial
sectors being at the centre of each plan with the implication being
that encouraging further innovation in these sectors now will lead to
a higher quality of life in the future. PM May, in her speech at
Jodrell Bank certainly sung the praises of the UK research and
development community: “We are ranked first in the world for
research into the defining technologies of the next decade, from
genomics and synthetic biology, to robots and satellites”
(https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-science-and-modern-industrial-strategy-21-may-2018).
The Government has already made a commitment of 2.4% of the UK's
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) going on research and development by
2027, equivalent to an extra £80bn-certainly ambitious. PM May was
also right to highlight the need to ensure regulation does not stifle
innovation and creativity (wherever possible) and I was glad to hear
her reiterate the fact that scientific research can be “a noble
pursuit and public good whether or not it leads directly to a
commercial application” but I hope that would equally apply to Arts
based research, something totally missing from her speech today.
The 4 Grand Challenges are briefly
outlined below:
- Artificial Intelligence and data
The Tories believe that it should be a
key mission of Parliament to “use data, Artificial Intelligence and
innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment
of chronic diseases (e.g. dementia, cancer, diabetes) by
2030”. They estimate that better use of AI technology and medical
data could lead to “over 50,000 more people each year having their
cancers diagnosed at an early rather than late stage” so that
20,000 fewer people dying with 5 years of receiving their diagnosis.
Early diagnosis of ovarian, prostate and lung cancers will save lives
and this mission will have broad cross-party appeal but will involve
investment in equipment and personnel expertise over the next 10
years to come to fruition, which will need to come partly from an
increase in government expenditure on science and innovation and
health. It'd be great if some Lincolnshire organisations will become
involved in this area and receive direct investment to expand to
fulfill research demands. It's also important that NHS data is
accessible to help with the creation of algorithms that can be used
by GPs although I am sceptical about allowing private companies to
use NHS data to make for-profit products
(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/20/may-to-pledge-millions-to-ai-research-assisting-early-cancer-diagnosis).
- Ageing society
The Tories have set a mission target of
people enjoying “at least 5 extra, healthy, independent years of
life by 2035” whilst also narrowing the gap between the richest
and poorest people. This will again require significant investment in
social care provision to allow people with physical and learning
disabilities to live independently in their homes, as well as older
people whose physical health may have declined for example due to
arthritis. One cannot deny the social care system is already under
strain and is facing a £1.5bn shortfall by 2020. Lincolnshire is
going to take part in a £1m pilot project alongside Nottinghamshire
to help improve the service provided (to ensure that every user of
adult social care will have a joint health and social care assessment
and care plan) over the next 2 years
https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/lincolnshire-take-part-1m-scheme-1363212.
Lincolnshire County Council voted to add 2% to council tax bills to
pay for social care which came into effect in April but that increase
will not help to offset funding challenges forever. Current funding
plans suggested by Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Jeremy Hunt, which will mean means-tests for personal home care as
well as residential care will include taking the value of homes into
account have been branded “costly and unfair” in a joint report
by the Kings Fund and the Health Foundation
(https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/16/social-care-funding-plans-branded-costly-and-unfair).
The report argues there should be a cap of £75,000 on the total
amount one person will need to pay for care. Another recently
published report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC),
states that the Government is significantly underestimating the
challenges the social care sector is currently facing, with care
packages having to be prioritized and packages which support older
people who have falls taking longer to put together. Age UK has
already stated that 1.2m older people in the UK have unmet social
care needs
(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/social-care-elderly-disabilities-brexit-government-mps-japan-a8341611.html).
There is also a challenge to safeguard the welfare of care workers,
who are among the lowest paid workers in the UK and whose self-esteem
levels are lower than that of other workers within the healthcare
sector
(http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2018/05/15/adult-social-care-staff-suffering-low-pay-esteem-report-says/).
We'll wait to see the Green Paper on Social Care in the summer for
updated details.
Community organisations who develop
intergenerational projects to reduce levels of social isolation and
loneliness and thus reduce potential for people to develop depression
or other long-term mental health conditions need to have access to
sustainable funding pots at local authority level and not just
rely on donations and community foundations for support. I agree in
principle with the idea of developing strategies to help older people
access a wide variety of workplace opportunities beyond the official
age of retirement as I believe in the principle of creating a diverse
and inclusive workplace environment. But I think it's a mistake to
purely focus on this and on the development of consumer products and
services offered primarily by private sector businesses. Our social
carers and care home providers need support to deliver high-quality
care to clients and that is where I feel money needs to be spent
urgently through increases to local authority budgets and to NHS
Trust budgets where there are a high number of patients over the age
of 65. That would include East Lindsey which is ranked 2nd
highest in the UK for the highest number of carers caring for 50
hours or more per week and has
the highest proportion of people aged over 65 in the UK
(http://www.research-lincs.org.uk/jsna-Carers.aspx).
We need to ensure sufficient support is provided to carers of
all ages to help improve mental
health wellbeing. 6.5m people currently care for an elderly, ill or
disabled relative. Lincolnshire has one of the fastest growing rates
of carers (a 27.5% increase was recorded between 2001 and 2015 when
the UK general rate was 6.2%) and the number of people aged 65 and
over in Lincolnshire is projected to increase by 25% by 2022.
84,000 carers have been recorded as living in Lincolnshire according
to the Joints Strategic Needs Assessment for Lincolnshire on Carers:
http://www.research-lincs.org.uk/jsna-Carers.aspx.
Innovative strategies should help reduce physical and emotional
pressures on them as well as on the person/people that need to be
cared for. Yet Lincolnshire County Council are looking to make
savings (i.e. reduce) the Carers budget by £0.415m in this financial
year and a further £0.0075m in 2019/20 due to reductions in funding
(https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/local-democracy/how-the-council-works/finances/budgets-and-financial-strategy/lincolnshire-county-council-budget-2018/19/132217.article).
- Clean growth
The Tories have
stated a commitment to a target of a 50% reduction in the energy use
of new buildings by 2030 in the hope of reducing energy bills for
public sector organisations, businesses and families. They aim to do
this by ensuring new buildings use “clean heating”, encouraging
the development of “innovative techniques” to reduce carbon
emissions and introducing even smarter technology to help consumers
control their energy use. The money to support the fulfillment of the
target is coming from a £170m Transforming Construction Industrial
Strategy Challenge Fund and anticipate that this will be matched by a
£250m investment from the private sector.
It's also great to
hear that the Government will be encouraging organisations to explore
how housing alterations can be made to improve the lives of older
people who currently live in unadapted housing. The Centre for Better
Ageing report Room to improve: The role of home adaptions in
improving later life found that
more than 90% of older people live in mainstream housing but
providing adaptations such as providing wet rooms on ground floors,
stair-lifts or even basic adaptations like hand-rails and monitoring
equipment to help people living with dementia can make a difference
in helping to prevent falls (a 26% reduction in falls that need
medical attention and savings of £500m a year for the NHS and Social
Care systems) as well as improving mental health
(https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2017-12/Room%20to%20improve.%20The%20role%20of%20home%20adaptations%20in%20improving%20later%20life.pdf).
- Future of mobility
Once again the Tories have centred the
motor vehicles industry within their plans for Post-Brexit Britain,
with a commitment to “Putting the UK at the forefront of the design
and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles with all new
cars and vans effectively zero emission by 2040”
(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-the-grand-challenges/missions).
This is all well and good in that it will probably help reduce carbon
emissions but I am sceptical as to whether voters want to see
taxpayers' money invested in electric vehicle companies when the
Government is not investing enough money into social care or youth
services or even existing travel services. That being said I agree
that it is prudent to invest some money
towards innovation in this area -e.g. providing £1bn over 10 years
to develop low carbon powertrains (provided there are trains created
for use on East Midlands journeys) and grants to help early-adopters
to buy ultra low-emission vehicles.
Overarching Thoughts:
I
guess I consider myself a sceptic when it comes to the delivery of
promises, especially by this particular Government. I am concerned
that the targets will not be met without developing truly holistic
strategies involving organisations from different sectors, not just
the science and research sector or construction and motor vehicle
sectors. Encouraging conversations that lead to collaborations to
address key challenges will drive change at a local level.
The
Government's focus on Technical Skills to boost talent is welcome but
we must not promote such skills at the expense of creative arts
subjects in schools and colleges. Rigorous Science GCSE's are all
well and good but there will need to be tailored support in schools
to help students who might struggle to achieve a Grade C at GCSE. I
remember having to work extremely hard to remember the scientific
concepts and terminology for GCSE Applied Science and that my Physics
based papers would always come back at Grade D no matter how hard I
tried. If it wasn't for the determination of my Science teacher to
provide extra Biology and Chemistry lessons I would not have achieved
a Grade B. I understand why the Government wishes to promote Science
A-Levels and put more money into attracting science graduates through
offering tax-free bursaries but they must remember that innovation
doesn't just come from those who study scientific subjects at school.
With
Brexit impending, it is vital that researchers from the EU involved
in industries across the UK, not just in the science and
technological industrial sectors feel they can enjoy the exact same
benefits of living in the UK post-Brexit as they do currently. PM May
is right to highlight the amazing contributions that researches from
around the world have made to improve our quality of life. Yet some EU researchers have decided to leave the UK following the Brexit vote: in January it was reported that there had been a 19% increase in the level of departures of EU staff compared to before the EU referendum (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-news-uk-university-eu-academics-resign-immigration-brexodus-citizens-europe-a8143796.html) so it's important that PM May makes it clear their status will remain unchanged under the current terms of the Brexit deal. I also think
that paying for membership of existing EU research programmes,
including Horizon 2020 and future programmes is important and that
this financial contribution has been mutually agreed with all EU
member states. The UK cannot just pluck a number out of thin air and
then stick to it rigidly or walk away as the ultra Brexiteers like
Jacob Rees-Mogg would have us do.
A
progressive, liberal vision for the UK would for me be one where we
had decided not to leave the EU. However, a Brexit where a deep
partnership with the EU on research and development, including arts
and social research is vital
in helping us to continue to innovate and improve overall quality of
life in the UK. Yes we should be excited at the prospect of change
driven by innovation, whether you fit into PM May's definition of
being “curious...inventive and determined” or not because the
UK's been a hub for innovation for hundreds of years. Yet a top-down
approach to innovation, driven only by those with expertise in
specific fields will not work. We
all have a part to
play in this, regardless of qualifications or type of job that we do.
Carers can be innovative in the way they engage with their clients,
care homes can put on social activities with the help of enthusiastic
volunteers, community organisations can look at creating
intergenerational projects, using recent research to guide practice
and administrative assistants can look at ways to promote office
exercise or hold meetings to talk about building emotional
resilience. Research can also be conducted at a local level by
volunteers who want to look at tackling levels of anxiety/stress
caused by social isolation and could work with organisations to help
fund and promote such research.
PM
May wants her Government to work towards achieving 4 ambitious
targets designed to help transform the lives of people living in the
UK. Time will tell whether Brexit, if pursued will inhibit chances of
achieving those ambitious targets.
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