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Employers, educators and innovators questioned on the Productivity Plan

16 October 2015

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee holds its second evidence session as part of its inquiry into the Government's Productivity Plan.

Witnesses

Tuesday 20 October 2015, Committee Room 16, Palace of Westminster

At 9.30am

  • Sian Foster, General Manager of Government and External Affairs, Virgin Atlantic Ltd
  • Stephen Harris, Chief Corporate and Strategy Officer, EE
  • Paul Harris, Director of Economic Development, Rolls Royce plc

At 10.15am

  • Peter Horrocks CBE, Vice-Chancellor, Open University
  • Professor Dave Phoenix OBE, Chair, Million and Vice-Chancellor, London South Bank University
  • Mike Dawe, Group Board Director, City & Guilds
  • Harvey Young, Chairman, National Consortium of Colleges and Providers

At 11am

  • Dr Ruth McKernan CBE, Chief Executive, Innovate UK
  • Dick Elsy, Chief Executive Officer, High Value Manufacturing Catapult
  • David Harbourne, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Edge Foundation
  • Professor Richard Brook OBE, President, Association of Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations

Quote from the Chair

On launching the Productivity Plan inquiry, Iain Wright MP, Chair of the BIS Committee said:

"Productivity is the pressing economic challenge of this Parliament and tackling the productivity gap is crucial to the UK's economic competitiveness and to improving workers' living standards. As a Committee we will keep a determined focus on scrutinising investment, regulation, innovation and skills policies designed to boost productivity.

Launching this inquiry marks the start of the Committee playing a constructive role in assessing the Government's Productivity Plan and ensuring it delivers meaningful results for the UK economy." 

What is productivity?

The Committee has launched a short video on productivity which touches on what productivity is - put simply, how much the UK economy creates, divided by how much it puts in – and what affects productivity, including how skilled workers are, how easily workers can move to suitable jobs and how good the equipment is that they use to work.

Further information

Image: iStockphoto