We all know that reviews are a necessary part of Government. Policy makers need the facts in front of them in order to make objective decisions. That can’t be disputed. I even did my own for them recently.

However, the sheer volume of reviews launched by Government is certainly a trend that commentators have latched onto. I have to say the relevant bandwagon has now hit me as well. Its as if they are the panacea for every issue, every strategy and every crisis that confronts the Government. They even tried to avert a defeat in the Commons yesterday over the Ghurkas with, you guessed it, offering a review. But this was not just to be any old review. This was to be a review that concluded by August. I don’t know how many MP’s that shifted into the ‘right’ division lobby.

So it was with some trepidation that I opened the Government’s latest review on support for industry last week: New Industry, New Jobs. All well and good I thought, apart from the fact that this appeared to be a review covering virtually the same territory that the recent Manufacturing Strategy covered in July 2008. Driven through by Baroness Vadera, that particular review was seen by many as a rare example of a review that did actually have some firm proposals for action. The latest version of BERR’s ‘strategic vision’ for UK industry and its development decidedly was not.

In fact, it seemed to be me to be a symptom of that other rapidly spreading condition- Reviewitis. Not quite as deadly as Swine Flu, but equally as perplexing. For what we are with faced with as a strategy for pulling UK industry out of recession? A review that announces, or in some cases reannouces, further reviews.

While reading its basic conclusions, I was pleased to see advanced manufacturing, in particular plastic electronics, get a heavy namecheck. Likewise the reference to Digital Britain, and the crucial role it has to play in rolling out improved digital networks. At the same time, it was telling for me that no less than four out of the five major conclusions announced plans for ‘further assessment’ or made statements to the effect that future Government policy would be based on, you guessed it, an ongoing or upcoming review. In fact the only new action that I could determine that the report actually announced was- a new review into industrial opportunities in an ageing society.

This week, I will be moving on to the latest missive from BERR to hit my inbox: A Consultation on Effective Consultation. . It doesn’t bode well for my current views on these mechanisms…

As expected there were no big giveaways from Alistair Darling in this year’s budget. Whilst it was nowhere near as drastic as the recent second Irish budget in which taxes were hiked and budgets were slashed, the Chancellor gave a keen sense that the UK is battening down the hatches to weather the economic storm. But it was not all doom and gloom, and indeed there were plenty of positive points for the technology industry to take. So was this the first ‘Technology Budget’? (more…)

One element of recession coverage that really gets under my skin is the oft repeated view that UK Manufacturing has ‘fallen off a cliff’ recently. Firstly, what cliff are we talking about? Dover? Or, as one commentator recently put it, ‘not so much a cliff, more Mount Everest!”. In fact, the keener the author is to get coverage, the more dramatic the metaphor that is used.

I’m not denying that large elements of the sector are in trouble. It is not a good time to be making cars in the UK. But at the same time, to talk about all manufacturing in this light is at best a generalization and, at worst, simply incorrect.

If you talk to the electronics manufacturers involved with Intellect, and read the data we collect from them on a monthly basis, you get quite a different story. Many members in this area are lower down the supply chain and sell on a business to business basis, rather than directly to consumers. In general, their business model revolves around outsourcing, or contract manufacture of some kind. A recent poll of their customers noted that 59% of expected to increase outsourcing in 2009. There is every sign that their markets are actually growing, rather than contracting. Customers want low-cost added value manufacturing options. Moving production away from in-house facilities saves money. And everyone wants to save money at the moment. Some members are even opening new facilities and expanding capacity to meet new demand.

Those electronics manufacturers even lower down the supply chain, especially those that make items like circuit boards (the base material of all technology products) are little bit more reticent. We’ve seen layoffs here, and order books are generally fairly flat. But there has been certainly been no crash in the same way there apparently has been in other manufacturing industries.

In essence, I’d say that UK Electronics Manufacturing is engaged in a bit of light down-hill skiing (probably on a blue slope) rather than, as the analysts would have us believe, involuntarily base-jumping off Mount Everest. Hopefully as the rest of UK Manufacturing catches up, analysts metaphors will as well.

Thankfully, the most recent data shows that perhaps this process is beginning.