This year The Enterprise Forum is celebrating its 15th Anniversary, already marked by our reception in May with The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP.
The Forum was founded in 1997 by Andrew Cumpsty and Alistair Burt MP with the objective to establish an organisation that held to a rigorous set of guiding principles to ensure that our membership could fully engage in events without ever compromising their political neutrality.
The Enterprise Forum is the only independent business organisation dedicated to providing open dialogue and communication with the Conservative Party and the wider Coalition Government on all aspects of policy creation and consultation. Due to the unique non-for-profit structure we have adopted since our inception fifteen years ago, we offer a transparent Forum to bring business closer to politics, to debate, inform and build relationships in all stages of the policy process.
The open two-way dialogue also allows for business from across all industry sectors to be kept up to date with internal coalition thinking, latest policy initiatives and the invaluable networking opportunity with other Public Affairs professionals.
As President of the Forum I head an organisation that can boast a dynamic and experienced Management Board of recognised professionals within Public Affairs, reflecting experience and knowledge of all sectors of the business community.
Over the years we have hosted over 200 events, in a range of formats in London and Brussels and chaired meetings on topics as diverse as retail crime to pensions regulation and construction skills base to the knowledge economy. We are proud to have as part of our membership a broad spectrum of industries; manufacturing, retail, financial services, energy, transport, who rather uniquely are represented by a range of organisations – in house corporate teams, SME’s, trade associations and charities that give a voice to each of these sectors.
Our keen working relationship with the Conservative Party and the wider coalition Government extends beyond the frontbench and allows us to encourage continuity for our members, proving invaluable to many who have been keen to engage on various levels. Additionally, the Forum also engages with key policy stakeholders outside of the Conservative and the wider Coalition Government. These have included Director Generals at the CBI, Deputy Governors at The Bank of England and the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
Our members determine our event programme, and this year, this is reflected with a focus on Europe. The Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Minister for Europe and Jonathan Scheele, UK Representative for the European Commission have spoken with members so far. Our November visit to the European Parliament will engage business with both MEPs and the Commission.
We will be hosting fringe events at Conservative Party Conference and as always providing an informal, networking business reception – I look forward to welcoming all our members, non-members, Parliamentarians and research staff to our events there.
I encourage you to find out more about how the Forum engages business with politics, with transparency, through our website www.enterprise-forum.co.uk or by contacting our Executive Director Mark Beckett on 020 7799 4809 or email markbeckett@enterprise-forum.co.uk.
Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth DL President
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