what's in the news

Attending a private business dinner on Thursday 26 May 2011, hosted by Pitmans law firm on behalf of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), with CBI Director General, John Cridland, in attendance, 17 Thames Valley business leaders discussed the CBI’s priority themes under the banner ‘Securing private sector growth’.

Philip James, partner at Pitmans, comments: “The general consensus around the table was that in recent years not enough has been done to encourage the growth of solid, medium sized businesses focused on long term growth and their exports, particularly in the engineering and technology sectors, which would drive the next wave of success in the UK economy. Start-ups and smaller businesses have attracted a lot of public attention given the popularity of programmes such as Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice, but we need to focus more on the middle ground, and the long-term needs of established but still privately held companies with the resource and experience to succeed in the world economy.”

Also discussed during the evening was a sense of growing interest in engineering, manufacturing and business amongst the generation now coming into the workplace, in contrast to the focus over recent years on the media and financial services. This was something that the group felt needed further encouragement but was a promising sign for the future.

There was further debate on the controversial Hargreaves Report into intellectual property rights and the value of intellectual property protection rules, and the benefits of a “sunset clause” approach to government regulation.