Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what comparative assessment he has made of UK productivity and that of other G7 countries. [115776]

Mark Prisk MP; Minister of State (Business and Enterprise): The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills routinely monitors a range of international comparisons of productivity produced by organisations such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In addition the Department periodically commissions more detailed comparative studies.

Whole economy UK labour productivity measured in terms of output per hour worked lags behind its major peers (eg France, Germany and the USA). Since the 1980s the UK has been closing this gap, though in the 2000s, the rate of improvement slowed. After the 2008 recession, productivity in the USA began to pull away from the UK, France and Germany. In 2010 UK output per hour worked was 11 percentage points lower than the average of the other G7 countries.

Due to differences in average hours worked between countries, the labour productivity gap with France and Germany in terms of output per worker has largely been closed, but a substantial gap with the USA remains.