Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what measures he is taking to improve the UK's economic competitiveness.

In any modern economy improving competitiveness means boosting productivity, as it is the key long-term driver of economic prospects. This government has taken significant steps to tackle this issue, investing an additional £23bn in areas crucial to productivity through the National Productivity Investment Fund. At budget we went further, providing an additional £500m per year of spending to support improvements in technical education.