The government, and particularly the Treasury, prioritises budgetary control but too often, once initial contracts have been awarded, costs escalate without adequate cost or quality control. One cause may be that civil service cuts have left departments without the skills and experience needed to deal with private sector suppliers. Whatever the cause, however, it is clear that improving government performance on procurement, and ensuring suppliers deliver good value for money, would bring big benefits. Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Select Committee, who has extensive experience of overseeing public expenditure will lead a discussion on how government procurement could be improved to provide better value for money.

Part of the 'Getting the UK moving again' series of workshops

For many practical and intuitive reasons, the goal of a circular economy has gained traction but is hard to deliver. Such a project needs to be achieved in steps and each step depends on a range of technologies as well as a suitable policy and regulatory framework and initial investment. To help trigger this process this workshop will bring together experts from the chemical sector, the waste disposal sector and the semiconductor sector to discuss an integrated approach to [some] recycling, the actions needed and the potential benefits.

Speakers will be:

Kerry McCarthy MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Change

Jacob Hayler - Executive Director, Environmental Services Association

Thomas Birk - Vice President/Managing Director, BASF UK & Ireland

Scott White - Founder & Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Pragmatic Semiconductor

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Industry Forum we are holding an evening reception at the House of Commons hosted by Bill Esterson MP, Shadow Minister for Business and Industry, and sponsored by Workday.

Speakers:

Rod Dowler, Executive Chair, Industry Forum (Chair)

Bill Esterson MP, Shadow Minister for Business and Industry

James Johns, Head of Corporate Affairs, Workday

Sarah Howard MBE, Chair British Chambers of Commerce

The UK has some 28 million homes most of which are notoriously energy inefficient. This means that we waste money on increasingly expensive fossil fuels and add to carbon emissions unnecessarily. While we gradually transition to renewable energy, there is, thus, an urgent need to make all our homes, not just new-build homes, more energy efficient. This roundtable will focus on how policy measures can help make our legacy housing stock more efficient. It will be led by Bill Esterson MP, Shadow Business and Industrial Strategy Minister and will include industry experts on design, retrofitting, insulation, and new materials.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shattered complacency about peace on the European continent. It has brought defence procurement to the top of the agenda as nations scramble to give urgent help to Ukraine, and also bolster their own defences. So, the Industry Forum invited Chris Evans MP, Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement, to lead a roundtable on ‘Adjusting to new defence procurement priorities,’ hosted by BAE Systems. With a background in modern History, and with Labour riding high in the polls, the shadow minister opened the meeting with industry, academic and diplomatic representatives present, saying that he was here ‘to learn and listen’. From the wide discussion which followed covering supply chain issues, interoperability, high tech procurement, protectionism, equipment standardisation and maintenance, it was clear that defence procurement is a potential minefield for the unprepared.

As the government focuses on its five core missions, it is clear that long-term problems remain in the provision of adequate housing in the UK. The volume and quality of new housing vary sharply across the country and there are problems in the rented sector, and the provision of social housing. Together, these cause serious inequality and also impact UK economic performance. Matthew Pennycook MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning will lead an Industry Forum roundtable on ‘Real solutions to UK housing problems’. This meeting is kindly hosted by NHBC