皇冠体育app

• New industrial strategy promotes growth of UK鈥檚 largest sector
• UK Trade & Investment to lead trade missions for Professional and Business Services
• Senior business leaders to promote UK plc overseas
• Higher Apprenticeships in sector to treble to 10,000 per year in drive to boost skills and create new non-graduate routes into sector.

A new industrial strategy published today sets out how the UK can strengthen its position as a global leader in professional and business services (PBS). 皇冠体育app sector is one of Britain鈥檚 foremost success stories employing four million people and is worth more than 拢150 billion to the UK economy, contributing 11 per cent of GDP.

皇冠体育app strategy has been produced in partnership by government and businesses in areas like advertising, accountancy, legal services, management consultancy and recruitment. It is the latest step in the government鈥檚 industrial strategy and follows the recent launch of strategies for construction, aerospace and nuclear power and other key sectors to secure sustainable future growth in the economy.

Two key areas are identified as priorities for ensuring the future strength of the industry 鈥� access to a diverse highly skilled workforce and increasing exports to emerging markets. Actions include:

• 皇冠体育app number of Higher Apprenticeships available to businesses, such as law, accountancy, consultancy and marketing firms, are set to be trebled to 10,000 a year over the next five years. This will give businesses access to a more diverse talent pool, which has up until now been reliant on graduates. It is expected that over the next 10 years, 600,000 additional jobs will be available in the PBS sector.
• A new network of senior business envoys will champion UK capabilities and trade opportunities when overseas. UK Trade & Investment will also arrange trade missions specifically for PBS. This increased focus on trade promotion will build on the UK鈥檚 position as an international hub of PBS firms. 皇冠体育app sector was responsible for 10 per cent of all UK exports 鈥� 拢47 billion 鈥� in 2011.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

皇冠体育app professional and business services sector has been growing at four per cent for the last decade and we need to ensure this growth is sustained in the long-term. 皇冠体育app government will provide support to make sure the sector has the skilled people it needs so that we can keep this success story going.

Despite challenging times, exports in professional and business services have more than doubled over the past decade. I want our top executives to think British in all their overseas business, particularly in emerging markets where a growing middle-class is demanding higher-quality services. If a British advertising agency runs a campaign in India, there will be a British legal firm available to finalise the contract, or British accountancy firm to handle the transaction.

PBS Council co-chair Sir Michael Snyder said:

皇冠体育app challenges and opportunities posed by the rise of the developing economies make it vital that the UK PBS sector is as competitive and adaptable as possible. An important part of meeting this challenge is widening access to PBS and increasing the diversity of our workforces and, therefore, our business leaders of tomorrow. This report contains concrete proposals for making this aspiration a reality.

皇冠体育app PBS sector comprises a range of sub-sectors, including businesses as diverse as accountancy, advertising, legal services and recruitment. In addition, the UK PBS ecosystem includes a significant small and medium sized business (SME) component.

In March, the government announced it was making 拢30 million available for SMEs to obtain business advice through Growth Vouchers. By improving access to high quality business advice through Growth Vouchers, the PBS sector will be able to facilitate growth in small and micro businesses, and encourage more businesses to export, leading to wider benefits for the economy.

皇冠体育app UK鈥檚 PBS sector is already highly competitive internationally, and includes top international firms involved in advertising, accountancy, architecture, legal services, management consultancy and recruitment. For example, six of the top ten international accounting networks have a UK base. In the decade up to 2011, the sector鈥檚 exports more than doubled from 拢22 billion in 2001 to 拢47 billion in 2011, and delivered a trade surplus of 拢19 billion 鈥� the highest of any country in the OECD.

Notes to editors

1. 皇冠体育app industrial strategy for professional and business services, 鈥楪rowth is our Business鈥�, was written jointly by the government and the Professional and Business Services Council. 皇冠体育app full strategy is available here /government/publications/growth-is-our-business-professional-and-business-services-strategy

2. 皇冠体育app PBS Council is chaired jointly by Lord Younger (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) and Sir Michael Snyder, Senior Partner, Kingston Smith LLP.

3. 皇冠体育app PBS sector currently employs roughly four million people in the UK and is the country鈥檚 largest economic sector 鈥� contributing 11 per cent of UK GVA (compared to financial services at 8 per cent and manufacturing at 10 per cent).

4. 皇冠体育app PBS sector includes advertising, accountancy, consultancy, corporate finance advice, financial information services, legal services, public relations and communications and recruitment amongst others.

5. A list of members of the PBS Council is included in Annex C of the Strategy.
6. 皇冠体育app government鈥檚 economic policy objective is to achieve 鈥榮trong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries鈥�. It set four ambitions in the 鈥楶lan for Growth鈥�, published at Budget 2011:

• to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
• to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
• to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
• to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe.

Work is underway across government to achieve these ambitions, including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with more clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.