Public Sector Productivity

Earl of Devon Excerpts

Wednesday 7th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. Partnerships with the private sector have an important part to play in the public sector. Obviously, the public sector can learn a great deal from the private sector, and, I hope, vice versa. That is why we announced in the spending review that we will be carrying out more public/private partnerships. Clearly, there is a lot to learn from the previous experience of PFI; we must make sure that we learn those lessons, and we should also learn the lessons from other countries and their experiences in that regard.

[The Earl of Devon (CB)]

My Lords, productivity in rural Britain is just 82% of its urban counterpart— a number that is estimated to fall to 79% by 2040. Making up this difference would add over £40 billion to the UK’s GDP. What efforts are His Majesty’s Government taking to improve this disparity?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

We talked before about AI and digital adoption. Digital adoption is incredibly important when it comes to rural communities—ensuring that they have access to extremely fast broadband, for example, will be important. Working from home has been mentioned. There are interesting studies that show that, particularly in rural areas where it is more difficult to travel to work, working from home can significantly improve productivity.