Tag Archives: HM Government

The Prime Minister will meet with leaders from European business organisations on Monday (13) to discuss shared opportunities for industry as the UK prepares to leave the EU.

Theresa May will speak about the mutual importance of maintaining and developing the strong connections between EU and UK markets.

Mrs May will reiterate the UK’s commitment to securing an implementation period of around two years once Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

And she will ask the business experts from organisations including the CBI and BusinessEurope to share their input on how the UK and EU can continue to thrive side by side in industry and economic development.

The Prime Minister will also reiterate her vision set out in Florence for a bold and deep economic partnership with the EU – one in which the UK continues to be a global, free trading nation and the strongest friend and partner to the EU.

Alongside colleagues from the Department for Exiting the EU, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Treasury, the Prime Minister will reflect on the historic strong relationship between European business and the UK – from BMW in Oxford building electric MINIs to Arla’s work with dairy farmers across Britain.

The government has been engaging with industry through the Business Advisory Council since July this year as a vital part of preparations for leaving the EU. But this is the first meeting where she will engage directly with leaders from EU Business Organisations.

Greg Clark, Secretary of State for BEIS, will also set out the aims for the upcoming Industrial Strategy which will play a key role in UK’s free market economy delivering economic and social progress for everyone in society.

Ministers attending the Downing Street roundtable, which the CBI helped to organise, will be:

• Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
• Rt Hon David Davis MP, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU
• Stephen Barclay MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury

Attending businesses organisations will be:

• CBI (UK)
• Institute of Directors (UK)
• BusinessEurope (EU)
• European Services Forum (EU)
• BDI (Germany)
• BDA (Germany)
• MEDEF (France)
• Confindustria (Italy)
• CEOE (Spain)
• VNO-NCW (Netherlands)
• Ibec (Ireland)
• Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Sweden)
• Polish Confederation of Private Employers (Lewiatan)
• Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, SPCR (Czech Republic)
• VBO/FEB (Belgium)

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A £2 million tourism fund created by the UK Government is helping to attract more international visitors and increased spending into Inverness and Loch Ness.

The First Secretary of State Damian Green hosted a GREAT Inverness Loch Ness tourism reception in Inverness to celebrate the success of the venture and thank local businesses for their contributions.

The Minister also met with the Highland Council to discuss the progress of the Inverness and Highland City Region deal. The UK Government is investing almost £1 billion in Scottish City Deals, which aim to benefit businesses and communities across Scotland. The Inverness deal was agreed in January this year and is worth more than £300m in total. Mr Green met with Council Convener Bill Lobban and Council Leader Margaret Davidson in Inverness today.

Through the GREAT campaign the UK is directly spending £2 million over the next four years, promoting tourism in Inverness and the Highlands.

There were over 340,000 international visitors to Inverness last year, bringing with them over £115 million in additional spending. This is an increase of 46% since 2015.

First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office Damian Green said:

It’s great to see how the UK Government’s investment is helping boost the numbers of tourists to Inverness and Loch Ness and deliver economic benefits for local people and businesses.

This whole region is steeped in history and surrounded by breath-taking scenery, offering our international visitors a truly spectacular and memorable experience.

I was very pleased to hear that the Inverness and Highland City Region deal is making a real difference in areas like tourism and digital connectivity. Its success reflects the UK Government’s commitment to spreading economic growth to all parts of the United Kingdom.

VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said:

The legend of Nessie is a fantastic springboard to promote the stunning landscapes, activities and experiences that you can only have on a trip to Inverness and Loch Ness.

We want to inspire visitors to book a trip right now to come and explore this part of the Highlands, spreading the economic benefits of tourism outside the peak holiday periods.

The GREAT Campaign showcases the very best of what our nation has to offer, encouraging the world to visit. Key to the success of the GREAT Inverness Loch Ness campaign has most recently been targeted activity at France, Germany and the Netherlands, with the tagline – “Come hunting for Nessie, stay for the experience.” The campaign aims to deliver an additional £21.6 million in incremental spend and to sustain 400 local tourism jobs.

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Alistair Burt expresses UK concern about the provision of ballistic missiles to Houthis.

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The UK needs to develop and nurture talent in cyber security, not only in schools but also in the workplace – that is the consensus of a panel of industry experts at Innovate 2017.

Discussing the topic were:

To tackle the threat of cyber attacks, people need to be skilled in using cyber security tools and systems, and also developing these technologies.

The panel agreed that there is a lot of untapped potential in the UK. The requirement now is getting people into computer sciences to get them ready and prepared for sophisticated attacks.

Research and innovation into commercial opportunity

Innovate 2017 was pleased to welcome Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive Designate of UK Research and Innovation, who joined a panel on turning blue sky thinking into commercial opportunities.

Outlinig his vision for the new organisation, Sir Mark said he believed that universities are doing great work with businesses, and should do more to publicise this.

He described how the UK needs a team approach, helping to connect the researchers and innovative start-ups who need funding with the plentiful capital that is available.

A stand at Innovate 2017.

Tomorrow’s innovators

Also visiting the event were more than 50 pupils from 4 schools in the Midlands. The 14 to 18-year-olds took part in tomorrow innovators, a day-long programme of activities that was designed to inspire the next generation of business leaders and help them to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

The pupils took part in creative workshops, where they were tasked with coming up with solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems, working alongside Engineers Without Borders.

They also heard from Professor Dame Ann Dowling, President of Royal Academy of Engineering, and Dr Simon Foster, Physics Outreach Officer for Imperial College London, about what it means to be an innovator. The take away was don’t fear failure: if you’ve got an idea, then go and make it happen.

New jobs for graduates

There were a number of announcements made during Innovate 2017.

We announced additional funding for our Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) programme, which connect UK businesses with an academic or research organisation and qualified graduate.

The extra £30 million will create new jobs for graduates. Part of the National Productivity Investment Fund, it will help build the UK’s talent pipeline.

Embedding machine learning in our own practices

Deputy Chief Executive of Innovate UK, Kevin Baughan, also announced the winners of a funding competition to improve our own operations through machine learning. This will look at how machine learning can be applied to existing Innovate UK data and processes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operational functions.

It was run through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).

Winner of Peer to Peer award

Innovate 2017 came to a close with the announcement of the Peer to Peer award.

Delegates at the event were able to vote for their favourite product or service from the showcase companies. Environmental Street Furniture were announced as the winners. The company has developed a solar-powered bench for city centres, parks and stadiums, with USB points for mobile charging and WiFi.

Innovate UK’s Ruth McKernan presents Gareth Russell, Environmental Street Furniture with the Peer to Peer award. read more

The Legal Services Marketplace will enable organisations including NHS Trusts, schools, universities, local authorities and charities to procure expert legal advice from a diverse range of small, medium and large suppliers in dozens of specialisms.

CCS is currently developing the new commercial solution, and will be engaging further with suppliers and customers in the coming weeks.

The fourth ‘wheel’ of the Legal Services commercial vehicle

The new panel of suppliers will join the three legal panels awarded earlier in 2017; General Legal Advice Services, Rail Legal Services, and Finance and Highly Complex Transactions- which are exclusively for the use of Central Government departments, their executive agencies and other specified Central Government bodies.

Central Government departments will be able to use the new Legal Services Marketplace for work worth less than £20,000 in total.

Simplified bid packs

The Marketplace will make use of CCS’s new, simplified bid pack for suppliers.

The pack consists of fewer, shorter tender documents and sets out all the information in one place and in Plain English. The new pack also reduces terms and conditions, only including those which directly apply to the goods or service being purchased.

CCS worked with partners including the CBI, Federation of Small Businesses, techUK and the Association of Bid Managers to design the new pack, which cuts the amount of tender documentation that suppliers need to complete.

Find out more

CCS will be hosting supplier engagement sessions in November. If you would like to attend one of these sessions, please register by expressing your interest via the Legal Services Marketplace PIN

To follow developments with the Legal Services Marketplace, visit the CCS pipeline pages.

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