Press release: Business Council on Tech, Media and Telecoms: 10 June 2019

This afternoon, the Prime Minister hosted the first meeting of the Tech, Media and Telecoms Business Council at Downing Street. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, also joined the meeting.

The Council is one of five set up by the Prime Minister to provide high-level advice and policy recommendations to Government on the critical issues affecting business.

The Prime Minister began by welcoming the Council, which is co-chaired by Dame Carolyn McCall from ITV and Jan Du Plessis from BT Group and brings together a number of creative and digital businesses in the UK. She reflected on her speech this morning at London Tech Week and the successes of these sectors in the UK so far, which was welcomed by members.

Discussions focused on the development of digital infrastructure for local towns and communities; improving rail links between hubs in the UK; increasing digital connectivity throughout our transport infrastructure; regulation that works for everyone in a digital economy; and how to upskill people through the education system and retain talent in a creative and digital world.

They concluded by agreeing to take the ideas away and explore them in further detail, both within the Council and within Government. All five business councils have now met to discuss their initial policy recommendations on how to improve business competitiveness in their sectors, and work is ongoing to take these forward.

Members:

• Dame Carolyn McCall, ITV (Co-chair)
• Jan Du Plessis, BT Group (Co-chair)
• Edwin Morgan, IOD
• Stephen van Rooyen, Sky
• David Joseph, Universal
• Sarah Wood, Unruly
• Jane Turton, All3Media
• Tabitha Goldstaub, CognitionX
• Nick Read, Vodafone Group
• Mike Cooper, PHD Media/Omnicom Media Group
• Simon Segars, ARM (Softbank)
• Kathryn Parsons, Decoded
• John Allan, CBI