Budget will build a country fit for the future and make the UK a leader in the technological revolution
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The Chancellor is expected to use his Budget to put high-tech
Britain in the fast lane through Artificial Intelligence and
driverless cars reforms, and funding prototype 5G mobile phone
connections. As part of his plan to build an economy fit for the
future, the Chancellor is set to announce a series of measures that
will secure the UK’s position as a world leader in transformational
technologies. New technologies will create new opportunities and
new jobs. And to...Request free trial
The Chancellor is expected to use his Budget to put high-tech Britain in the fast lane through Artificial Intelligence and driverless cars reforms, and funding prototype 5G mobile phone connections. As part of his plan to build an economy fit for the future, the Chancellor is set to announce a series of measures that will secure the UK’s position as a world leader in transformational technologies. New technologies will create new opportunities and new jobs. And to ensure that everyone benefits from these opportunities, the Budget will include a boost for skills that will give people the training they need to succeed and get the highly-paid jobs of the future. He is expected to announce:
The Budget paves the way for the Industrial Strategy, which will help improve productivity and create high quality jobs across the whole of the country.
Artificial intelligence A new AI start-up is founded every week in the UK. To boost this industry further and secure the nation’s position as a world-leader, up to £20 million will support companies using this technology to develop pioneering services. Investment of up to £45 million will build capability and knowledge by increasing the number of new AI PhD students to 200 per year. And a further £9 million will fund a new advisory body to remove barriers to development and ensure safe and ethical innovation in AI and data. Driverless cars The driverless car industry will be worth £28 billion to the UK economy by 2035 and support 27,000 jobs. To help businesses grow as fast as possible, the Government will implement world-leading regulatory changes, so that developers can apply to test their vehicles on the road nationwide without a human operator for the first time. This will remove the last remaining barrier to advanced, on-road testing putting the UK in the fast lane of global developments for this technology. A new scheme will also be launched enabling organisations to explore ways of testing self-driving technology through digital simulation. This off-road testing project will be the most significant of its kind in Europe and will involve cutting-edge computer science. These measures will help realise the Chancellor’s vision that fully self-driving cars will be on UK roads in as little as three years. Electric vehicles By creating a new £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund, the Government will improve access to finance for businesses to deliver charge points across the country. This will rapidly boost the deployment of vital infrastructure to support this switch to cleaner cars and reduce pollution. An extra £100 million will be invested in the Plug-In Car Grant, helping people with the cost of buying a battery-electric vehicle. This will support consumers making the move to zero-emission transport, improving the nation’s air quality as fast as possible. Digital skills Digital skills have a key role to play in preparing people for high-paid job opportunities presented by the new economy. More people than ever before are studying computer science, therefore it is crucial those teaching the subject keep up with the ever-advancing curriculum. Tripling the number of fully-qualified computer science teachers to 12,000 from 4,000 and creating a new National Centre for Computing, will ensure the next generation is equipped with the skills they need to thrive in the modern world of work. 5G technology The Government wants the UK to be at the forefront of the rollout of 5G technology – the next generation of mobile communications. To support this, £160 million will be invested in developing these cutting-edge connections. This will support a series of exciting new projects that will help bring 5G to both rural and urban areas across the country. Funding will go towards the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure networks work safely and securely, and testing 5G on Britain’s roads to help lay the foundations needed for driverless cars. A further £35 million will be invested so rail passengers can benefit from reliable mobile connections and lightning-speed internet during journeys. Trials will start on the Trans-Pennine route. This builds on money already invested in a test network where leading UK universities are developing 5G technology here in Britain so it can then be sold to the world.
National retraining partnership The Government is establishing a formal partnership with the CBI and TUC to oversee the National Retraining Scheme, to help adults across the country to retrain and get the skills they need to succeed in the new economy. As a first step, £36 million will be invested in digital skills courses using AI so that people can benefit from this emerging technology as they train for digital tech jobs in one of the fastest growing sectors across Britain. In order to build the homes the nation needs, it is vital there are enough construction workers with the right skills to meet this challenge. Therefore £40 million will also be invested in construction training programmes across the country to train people for jobs such as groundworker, bricklayer, roofer and plasterer. This partnership will roll out the National Retraining Scheme across other priority sectors, building on this initial investment. |