The Industry Forum Ltd, 20 St Andrew Street, EC4A 3AG, London
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+44 (0)20 7434 0090
The Industry Forum Ltd, 20 St Andrew Street, EC4A 3AG, London
The Covid 19 crisis has dominated thinking and planning for the past year but now, as the dangers are apparently receding, old issues about pensions and benefits are re-emerging and some now ones have appeared. The Department for Work and Pensions needs to prepare for the changes in the world of work that have been accelerated by the pandemic. It also needs to ensure that the systems and benefits now in place are adequate to meet new and sometimes greater needs that have been revealed. In the light of the new pension freedoms of the past decade, it is necessary to ensure that savers can safely exercise and enjoy these freedoms. Pension stewardship has also become a critical issue with increasing pressures to divert investment from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, will outline the current work of the committee and lead a discussion of such issues.
Responses from:
Anna Coote, Principal Fellow, New Economics Foundation
Mark Baker, Partner, Pinsents Masons LLP
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Post-Brexit, the UK relies more than ever on its reputation for good corporate governance and sound financial auditing, but, over the last decade, a string of corporate failures and auditing scandals has undermined that reputation. The government has recently published a consultation paper on ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance.’ This responds to three major investigations by Sir John Kingman, the Competition & Markets Authority, and Sir Donald Brydon. It contains a plethora of proposals and asks for comments by 8 July. We are therefore convening a virtual roundtable to facilitate a high-level discussion about whether the proposals will tackle the underlying problems and meet the ambitious aims of the consultation paper. Our specialist panel for the round table will be:
Lord Prem Sikka
Martin Webster, Partner, Pinsent Masons
Scott Cormack, Former audit partner, KPMG
Chris Rees, Professor of Employment Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London
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The UK faces a fast-changing defence landscape at time when new threats and new technologies require that we focus closely on key priorities, work closely with allies, and provide the appropriate resources for our armed services. The recently published government ‘Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy’ is a widely scoped prospectus which does not go into detail and does not reconcile existing budgetary issues. These matters are important, particularly for our economy, our industries and the workers employed in them. Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon John Healey MP, will lead an Industry Forum virtual roundtable on the topic of ‘Issues and priorities for UK defence’.
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Most business people see that the pandemic has caused serious damage to some important sectors like hospitality and aviation. Furthermore, it is clear that we need to expand other sectors such as renewable energy, construction and digital infrastructure to address climate change and preserve employment and prosperity levels. They are less clear about government strategy and whether current plans meet the scale of the challenges and opportunities we face. Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission will outline the recently announced National Infrastructure Strategy and lead a discussion of how infrastructure projects could lead to a robust recovery.
Speakers include:
Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission
Jonathan Hart, Infrastructure Partner, Pinsent Mason LLP
Lila Thompson, CEO, British Water
Jonathan Collins, External Affairs Manager, Cadent Gas
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Is rapidly paying back pandemic borrowings an economic priority or a political red herring? This was an underlying question when Bridget Phillipson MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and leading economists Andrew Smith and Josh Ryan-Collins discussed ‘Paying for the the Pandemic’ at a recent Industry Forum virtual round table. Government decisions on borrowings, taxes and investment will determine the speed of recovery of damaged sectors and restructuring towards the industries and skills of the future, the success of regional economic rebalancing, our ability to tackle urgent social problems, and the speed of decarbonisation. Overall, this could mean the difference between a powerful economic bounce-back or another decade of austerity. New US president, Joe Biden, has clearly opted to borrow more to fund a robust recovery but it is not clear whether the UK will follow suit.
Speakers:
Bridget Phillipson MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Andrew Smith, Chief Economist, Industry Forum
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We had the transport ‘A team’ at an Industry Forum virtual roundtable on, ‘A Post-covid transport transformation?’. Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Jim McMahon MP, kicked off the event. Sector speakers were Andy Bagnall, Director General at the Rail Delivery Group; Katy Taylor, Chief Strategy and Customer Officer, Go-Ahead bus group; Nigel Milton, Director of Communications, Heathrow Airport, and Konstanze Scharring, Director of Policy at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Key points of agreement were that: much of the transport industry has been seriously damaged financially by the big drop in travel during the lockdown; working practices have changed and we will not return to pre-pandemic office use and commuting patterns, and that there has been a massive mood change relating to the climate emergency which means that transport sectors will need to quickly lower carbon emissions. There was optimism that the challenges can be met although the need for a joined up transition plan, linked to a UK industrial strategy, was acknowledged.
Speakers:
Jim McMahon MP, Shadow Minister for Transport
Andy Bagnall, Director General, Rail Delivery Group
Katy Taylor, Chief Strategy and Customer Officer, Go-Ahead Group
Nigel Milton, Director of Communications, Heathrow
