The British Woodworking Federation Group

BWF responds to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper through the Confederation of Timber Industries

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18/04/2017

BWF has responded to the consultation on the government's Industrial Strategy Green Paper through the Confederation of Timber Industries (CTI). The response sets out policy asks to ensure that the timber industry can supporting a productive future for the UK economy. It also includes case studies for consideration and highlights actions that the timber industry could take to support their ambitions of a sustainable, productive and economically strong sector.

BWF responds to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper through the Confederation of Timber IndustriesOn 23rd January the government launched the industrial strategy Green Paper. The paper set out the government's approach and some early actions which it had committed to take. The aim of the strategy was to address long-term challenges to the UK economy, improve living standards and enable economic development by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country.

The CTI response addressed the ten pillars of the industrial strategy with recommendations on how to encourage inward investment, deliver affordable energy, develop skills and support business growth. You can view the full response here.

Iain McIlwee, British Woodworking Federation CEO commented on the Green Paper:

"The Industrial Strategy looks at the ten pillars that drive a productive economy and pulls together at a high level how we can drive productivity to the economy.  It is, however, by admission of the green paper, very much a helicopter view and it is beholden on industrial sectors to look at our own supply chains and see how we can improve and what we need government to do to help this journey.  Working with the timber supply chain via the CTI, looking at the opportunities for pre-manufactured product and offsite capabilities makes alot of sense and simply working on this document and the conversations this work has generated has been incredibly valuable already. I am very much looking forward to working with the civil service, government and our own membership to develop some of the thinking set down here."

BWF has been working hard to raise the profile of the woodworking sector and highlight how our industry supports the economy and delivers maximum results with minimum environmental impact. Through the CTI we have developed a manifesto for timber that focusses on key policy areas such as sustainability, jobs, skills and housing – this manifesto and our industrial strategy response are going to be key documents to engaging with MPs and candidates in the coming weeks as we head into another General Election.

If you have any comments on the manifesto or industrial strategy response, please don't hesitate to contact iain.mcilwee@bwf.org.uk or call into the office – we are also looking to develop case studies around themes in the strategy response, so if you feel you have a story that underpins the innovative or progressive nature of the timber sector, please do send in details. 

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