Recommendation 11

Help to Grow: Management and Help to Grow: Digital are promising responses to the problems of relatively poor digital technology adoption and management skills among businesses, but there have been some difficulties in the early days of the schemes. Considering the importance of long-term stability in growth policy, it will be important to persist with these schemes while taking feedback and adjusting them as necessary. That will require backing from the Treasury. If a success can be made of the schemes, there may be scope for expansion. It its response to this report, the Treasury should indicate whether funding will be available for longer than the three years first suggested in Budget 2021 and on what success criteria continued funding would depend. This is important, given the negative impacts and costs of repeated policy change.