Chancellor George Osborne launches National Infrastructure Commission October 30, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne today launched the National Infrastructure Commission, to oversee £100bn of spending on infrastructure projects. He said infrastructure is "at the heart" of the November spending review, with the money being used by 2020, and insist that the promised £15bn roads investment strategy will be realised. Read more: CBI/AECOM poll: infrastructure is a top concern [...]
Lord Davies report: Politicians and business groups say they are disappointed by final recommendations October 29, 2015 The final Davies Review report has been criticised by politicians and business groups for not going far enough to address gender diversity among senior managers. In his final Women on Boards report this morning, Lord Mervyn Davies, a former chairman and chief executive of Standard Chartered, said that 33 per cent of all board seats [...]
Government relinquishes full control of Tower Hamlets – but warns mayor John Biggs that a lapse in management will result in further “action” October 29, 2015 The government is handed control of the governance of Tower Hamlets borough council back to the borough, four months after the last mayoral election. Last November Eric Pickles, communities secretary at the time, had ordered a three-man team of commissioners to take over the handling of grants and property sales, as well as senior appointments or suspensions [...]
Three key takes from the Davies Review into women in boardrooms October 29, 2015 The eagerly-awaited Davies Review into women in boardrooms was published today, setting a new target for a third of the boards of Britain's biggest listed companies to be made up of women by the end of the decade. The target of 25 per cent of board members to be women on the FTSE 100 has been met, and FTSE [...]
EU referendum: US trade official Michael Froman says UK would miss out on trade after Brexit October 29, 2015 A top American official has warned that Britain will miss out on key trade deals if it leaves the European Union. Michael Froman, the US trade representative, said in a major intervention yesterday that America would not want to pursue a free trade agreement with an independent Britain. The US finalised a major trade deal with 11 Pacific [...]
Chilcot report release date set: Iraq inquiry’s two million word report will be published in June or July 2016 October 29, 2015 Sir John Chilcot has finally set a date for the publication of his long-awaited inquiry into the UK's role in the Iraq War. The report will be published in June or July of next year, according to a letter Chilcot sent to Prime Minister David Cameron. The letter was published on the Chilcot inquiry's website this morning. Chilcot [...]
Fast growing firms say they will look at relocating if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister – Leap 100 October 29, 2015 A majority of fast-growing companies in the UK refuse to rule out relocating abroad if Jeremy Corbyn were elected Prime Minister. Forty-six per cent of the Leap 100 – 100 of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses, surveyed by City A.M. – said they would consider moving overseas if the Labour leader came into power, while a [...]
EU minister agree to hold emergency meeting after business secretary Sajid Javid calls for summit on steel crisis October 29, 2015 European Union ministers have agreed to hold an emergency meeting over the steel crisis within two weeks. Business secretary Sajid Javid called for an EU-wide steel summit during meetings with EU commissioners in Brussels yesterday, saying that "severe pressures" on the European steel sector required "urgent action". Javid said today: “I am determined this council leads [...]
New Institute for Economic Affairs poll: most people don’t think politicians make decisions based on what’s best for the country October 29, 2015 New polling figures out today reveal just how disaffected the British public is with government. More than three-quarters of British people say they feel they have not very much influence, or no influence at all, on the national government’s decision-making, according to a new ComRes poll for the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a free [...]
Financial sector feels positive about board positions for women, research finds ahead of Davies review report October 29, 2015 Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of finance directors think women have more opportunities to advance in finance and accounting than they did 10 years ago, research by specialist recruitment consultancy Robert Half UK has revealed today. The survey findings come ahead of a new report relating to the Lord Davies review of women on boards, published today. [...]