Prime Minister’s Business Councils
The Prime Minister established five Business Councils to provide advice and policy recommendations on issues affecting the UK business environment and competitiveness.
The Prime Minister established five Business Councils in November 2018 to provide advice and policy recommendations on important issues affecting the UK business environment and competitiveness. The aim is to enable companies in key sectors of the economy, both now and when the UK exits the European Union, to invest, grow and succeed.
Each Council will meet three times a year, twice with the Prime Minister and once with a senior Cabinet minister. The Councils are advisory and hold no decision making powers but also act as a forum for government to share developing policy ideas and seek the views of members. Information from the Business Councils is shared with the relevant government department to inform their policy development.
The five Business Councils are:
- Consumer, Retail and Life Sciences Business Council
- Financial and Professional Services Business Council
- Industrial, Infrastructure and Manufacturing Business Council
- Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs Business Council
- Telecoms, Creative Industries, Technology and Media Business Council
The Councils are co-chaired by senior business leaders, with each having around ten to fifteen members, representing core sectors of the UK economy, inward investors as well as a representative from the UK’s key business representative groups. The co-chairs and all members will hold membership for one year. Each Business Council has met once so far in 2019.
Each council has proposed a number of specific policy measures which are now being developed within relevant Whitehall departments with a view to finalising which ones will be implemented. The Business Councils will continue to work with the Whitehall departments during this period and will present final recommendations for action towards the end of 2019. This is being co-ordinated by the Cabinet Office.
Full membership of all five Business Councils for 2019 is below.
Consumer, Retail and Life Sciences Business Council
Co-Chairs:
- Dave Lewis, CEO, Tesco
- Emma Walmsley, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline
Members:
- Adam Marshall, Director General, BCC
- Alison Brittain, CEO, Whitbread
- Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon
- Gordon Sanghera, CEO, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
- Ivan Menezes, CEO, Diageo
- Namal Nawama, CEO, Smith & Nephew
- Pascal Soirot, CEO, Astra Zeneca
- Sebastian James, SVP, Walgreen Boots Alliance
- Steve Murrells, CEO, Co-op
Financial and Professional Services Business Council
Co-Chairs:
- Paul Manduca, Chairman, Prudential
- Shriti Vadera, Chairwoman, Santander
Members:
- Sir Adrian Montague, Chairman, Aviva
- Andrew Telfer, Senior Partner, Baillie Gifford & Co.
- Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chairman, Lloyds of London
- Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General, CBI
- Christian Sewing, CEO, Deutsche Bank
- Christine Hodgson, Chairwoman, Capgemini UK
- Christine O’Neill, Chairwoman, Brodies LLP
- Clare Woodman, Head of EMEA, Morgan Stanley & Co. International
- David Schwimmer, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group
- Edward Braham, Senior Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Hamish Forsyth, President - Europe & Asia, Capital Group Companies Global
- Jeffrey Sprecher, Chairman and CEO, Intercontinental Exchange
- Jes Staley, CEO, Barclays
- Mark Tucker, Chairman, HSBC Holdings
- Nick Owen, Chairman, Deloitte UK
- Peter Harrison, Group CEO, Schroders and Chairman of the Investment Association
- Rachel Lord, Head of EMEA, Blackrock,
Industrial, Infrastructure and Manufacturing Business Council
Co-Chairs:
- Sir Ian Davis, Chairman, Rolls Royce
- Sir Roger Carr, Chairman, BAE Systems
Members:
- Dame Angela Strank, Head of Technology Downstream & BP Chief Scientist BP
- Andrew Churchill, Executive Chairman, JJ Churchill
- Arthur Pinder, MD, A & G Precision
- Cressida Hogg, Chairman, Land Securities
- David Thomas, CEO, Barratt Developments PLC
- Emma Bridgewater, CEO, Bridgewater
- Liv Garfield, CEO, Severn Trent
- Michael Ryan, President, Aerostructures and Engineering Service, Bombardier
- Richard Gillingwater, Chairman, SSE
- Stephen Phipson, CEO, EEF
- Tony Walker, MD, Toyota Europe
Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs Business Council
Co-Chairs:
- Brent Hoberman, Chairman, Founders’ Factory
- Emma Jones, Founder, Enterprise Nation
- James Timpson, Chief Executive, Timpson
Members:
- Alastair Lukies, Founder, Motive Partners
- Amit Gudka, Co-Founder, Bulb
- Ben Francis, Founder, Gymshark
- Gareth Jones, Founder, Town Square
- Grainne Kelly, CEO, Bubblebum
- John Roberts, CEO, AO.com
- Karen Friendship, MD, Aldermans
- Matthew Moulding, CEO, The Hut Group
- Mike Cherry, National Chairman, FSB
- Rebecca Pick, CEO, Pick Protection
- Richard Walker, MD, Iceland
- Sherry Coutu, Founder, Founders4Schools and ScaleUp Institute
- Stan Boland, Co-Founder and CEO, FiveAI
Telecoms, Creative Industries, Technology and Media Business Council
Co-Chairs:
- Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO, ITV
- Jan Du Plessis, Chairman, BT Group
Members:
- David Joseph, Chairman and CEO, Universal
- Edwin Morgan, Director General, IOD
- Jane Turton, CEO, All3Media
- John Allan, President, CBI
- Kathryn Parsons, CEO, Decoded
- Mike Cooper, CEO, PHD Media/Omnicom Media Group
- Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone Group
- Tabitha Goldstaub, Co-Founder, CognitionX
- Sarah Wood, CEO, Unruly
- Simon Segars, CEO, ARM (Softbank)
- Stephen van Rooyen, CEO, Sky UK