The climate crisis, the pandemic, the economic crisis, and new technologies are all transforming requirements for UK public and private transport. Furthermore, the cancellation of the Manchester leg of HS2 and underfunding of road maintenance have made road transport a central issue for UK business, and society as a whole. There is an urgent need to have clarity on planning for road transport including road funding and pricing, rollout of electric charging points and the control of pollution in urban areas. Bill Esterson MP, Shadow Transport (Roads) Minister will lead a roundtable on ‘Key issues for UK road transport’.

Climate change is having a profound impact on the water sector. It is raising costs and causing wider concerns for businesses and householders alike. Water supplies, flood planning and water pollution are all examples of matters that require long-term planning and investment. Ruth Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Environmental Protection will lead a roundtable to discuss such issues.

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.