New industrial strategy, e-invoicing consultation and skills levy among new government announcements

The government will announce its new industrial strategy in October, chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.

In one of several annoucements at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, which was attended by Enterprise Nation, Reeves said she will reveal the strategy alongside business secretary Jonathan Reynolds:

"We will publish our plans for a new industrial strategy for Britain.

"A strategy for driving and shaping long-term growth in our manufacturing and service sectors. A strategy to unlock investment, create jobs and deliver prosperity. A strategy to help break down barriers to regional growth, speed ahead to net zero and clean power by 2030, and build prosperity on strong and secure foundations.

"Because when I said that this Labour Party is proudly pro-business and proudly pro-worker, I meant it."

Reynolds later confirmed the announcement in Liverpool, at a Labour Together event attended by Enterprise Nation.

A green paper will be published alongside the Budget on 30 October, with the final strategy published in spring 2025 after a consultation with businesses.

E-invoicing consultation

As part of plans to reform the UK tax system, the government also announced a consultation on electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) to encourage its wider use among UK businesses and government departments.

In a press release, the government said:

"The introduction of e-invoicing can significantly reduce administrative tasks, improve cash flow, boost productivity, introduce automation, and reduce errors in tax returns -- all helping to close the tax gap."

Enterprise Nation has called for measures around boosting the use of e-invoicing in our submissions to government, including in our 21 small business recommendations sent to the Treasury for the Budget.

Running a small business can be complex and time-consuming, with manual tasks and excess admin like chasing payments and filing taxes. e-invoicing can create a faster, more efficient invoicing and payment process, improving relationships with suppliers and customers.

The government should consider a phased rollout of mandatory e-invoicing for B2B transactions in the UK, which could successfully encourage technology adoption while allowing businesses time to prepare.

Daniel Woolf, Enterprise Nation head of policy and government relations, said:

"We welcome the announcement that HMRC will launch a consultation on the role e-invoicing technology could play in helping small businesses to increase their productivity and digital capabilities. We are particularly keen to see the government encouraging e-invoicing to help tackle the huge issue of late payment, a recommendation we have made to ministers on several occasions.

"The reality is the UK is falling behind other nations in digitising its economy, risking missed growth and investment opportunities. Unlike many OECD countries, the UK lacks fiscal incentives to drive tech adoption and policies to support a connected digital economy through technologies like e-invoicing could help to turn this around.

"Enterprise Nation looks forward to engaging with this consultation."

The government also announced that a new digital transformation roadmap will be published in Spring 2025 and "set out HMRC's vision to be a digital first organisation underpinned by customer insight."

James Murray, exchequer secretary to the Treasury and the minister responsible for the UK's tax system, has become the chair of the HMRC board. He will help oversee the implementation of his three strategic priorities for HMRC; closing the tax gap, modernising and reforming, and improving customer service.

Growth and skills levy

The government also announced reform of the apprenticeship levy by replacing it with a new growth and skills levy, a pledge in Labour's general election manifesto.

The apprenticeship levy is paid by large companies to cover the costs of apprenticeships. Firms can transfer a proportion up to 50% of unspent funds to small companies, but millions of pounds of the levy remains unspent each year.

The government said the new levy will cover new foundation apprenticeships and "shorter apprenticeships, giving learners and employers greater flexibility over their training than under the existing system, where apprenticeships must run for at least 12 months".

Enterprise Nation has called for reform of the apprenticeship levy to make it much more beneficial to small businesses.

Alongside the new levy announcement, Skills England, the government's new body for the skills system, also published its first report with an initial assessment of the UK's working skills, and the future skills needs and gaps which employers are struggling with.

A key area is a strong demand for digital skills and capabilities around artificial intelligence. This is a key focus of Enterprise Nation's Tech Hub which helps small businesses accesss digital tools to improve productivity, efficiency and growth.

We announced this week that the Tech Hub has supported almost 40,000 small businesses to adopt digital technology in its first 12 months. We celebrated that achievement by presenting the year one impact report to MPs including minister for data protection Chris Bryant at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

Creative education and arts funding

In her conference speech, culture secretary Lisa Nandy accused the previous Conservative government of "cultural vandalism", as well as "running down the arts subjects, narrowing the curriculum and slashing council funding so parts of the country became cultural deserts."

Nandy pledged that the Labour governnment will place a focus on supporting the creative and cultural industries.

For education, she said the government has started a review of the curriculum "to put arts, sports and music back at the heart of our schools and communities where it belongs".

A review will also be conducted of Arts Council England "to ensure arts for everyone", and the government is working with the TV industry "to ensure it becomes far more representative of the country, with decision makers who hail from every nation and region".