Autumn statement promises more money for catapults and lots more for R&D after 2016

First, an additional £61 million funding will be provided to the High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres to meet increasing demand and provide outreach and technical support to SMEs. It said that UK manufacturing has seen promising growth over the last few years, and this is widely recognised as a strong contributor to the relatively robust performance of the UK's economy. Dick Elsy, chief executive of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, said: "In 2013/14, we undertook 1,012 projects which involved 1,515 private sector companies. A number of these are large global manufacturers, but we have also engaged with over 1,500 SMEs in that period." "This additional investment will enable us to build on the advantage we have already created. In particular, it will allow us to work with more small and medium sized businesses, helping them to enter or grow in the supply chains and helping them thrive and produce in this country. In addition, we can broaden our work with sectors which have hitherto not worked intensely with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, such as food manufacturing." In the Statement, the UK government provides £21 million for The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) to establish a £28m National Formulation Centre based at NETPark in Co. Durham to provide facilities and expertise to help companies to develop, prove, prototype and scale up new and improved formulated products and processes, including adhesives, lubricants and composite materials. The National Formulation Centre will focus specifically on the areas of product and process design, delivery, stability and sustainability, as identified by UK industry in a 2013 consultation report. The Autumn Statement also made a long-term R&D commitment: to invest £5.9 billion into the UK's research infrastructure over 2016-21 – the longest-term commitment to investment in science facilities in any Parliament. This funding will include a £2.9 billion Grand Challenges fund, which will enable the UK to invest in major research facilities of national significance. Of particular interest is a £235 million project for a new science research centre, the Sir Henry Royce Institute of Advanced Materials Research and Innovation. It is based at the University of Mancheser, but will have satellite offices at the universities of Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College London. The university said that the centre would "underpin and provide growth to the entire UK manufacturing base and reduce the time to market from invention to application for new materials, with significant knock-on impact for the national economy." One of the smaller projects funded in the Autumn Statement was trials of driverless cars. From 1 January 2015, consortia based in Greenwich, Milton Keynes/Coventry and Bristol have been awarded up to £19 million to research projects. Also, the government has announced plans to make employing young people less expensive. From April 2016 employers will not have to pay National Insurance contributions (NICs) for all but the highest earning apprentices aged under 25. Last year's Autumn Statement announced that employers won't pay NICs on under 21s, from April 2015. Colin Brown, director of Engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, calls the move encouraging, but adds a cautionary note: "We need to ensure that all apprenticeships meet the rigorous standards of engineering apprenticeships and really do provide people with the skills and knowledge to prosper. These apprenticeships should be in industries where there is a real potential for jobs, like engineering, and that standards are verified through accreditation by bodies such as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers." The Autumn Statement also said that manufacturing grew at by least 3% in the July-September period. Brian Holliday, managing director of Digital Factory - Siemens UK & Ireland, said: "To ensure this growth is maintained we need measures such as the support for employers of apprentices and investment in high value manufacturing catapult centres to continue. "However, while growth forecasts for the UK have increased, productivity continues to stutter in the UK, so we need to ensure a long-term approach to investment in manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure is adopted, so we can all benefit from increasing prosperity. The Chancellor certainly has a role to play in that." The IET said that the next government should work on several longer-term priorities in the period 2015-2020. These include increased innovation support, improved support of UK skills, and more support for small business. "Businesses require an increased level of support for investment so that ideas and concepts can be proven, solutions developed and scaled up for commercial success. The investment opportunities should be considered as a UK wide approach to include better procurement, logistics and location," it says. "The Perkins Review of Engineering Skills identified a range of recommendations for joint action between the Government, business and the wider engineering profession. Investment by government should be aligned to the needs of innovative businesses so that there is the long term goal of having UK apprentices, graduates and existing employees skilled in the required areas." It adds: "It is recognised that many SMEs do not have the broad awareness and specific expertise to submit applications to access the range of initiatives available in the UK. More regionalised awareness and assistance hubs in cities and localities should be provided to support local businesses that could operate within relevant communities to ensure they are accessing the correct expertise and investment opportunities.