The Business Secretary chaired the final meeting of
the Build Back Better Business Council yesterday afternoon (8
December 2021), alongside Andrew McCosh from the government’s
Office for Science and Technology.
Speaking to the council of UK business leaders, the Business
Secretary acknowledged the efforts of businesses and provided an
update on the emergent situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andrew McCosh from the Office for Science and Technology Strategy
team then presented to business leaders, inviting them to join
the government in leading the global technological revolution. He
said that the key to this was government support to turn creative
ideas into innovative and disruptive start-ups, and unlocking
domestic investment. He also added a number of measures the
government is taking, including reforming investment rules to
favour founders and adjusting Visa rules to enable the UK to
attract top science and technology talent from around the world.
In response to this, the group welcomed the creation of the
Office and commented that the principal challenge was revising
rules on scale-up capital to unlock future business growth. They
also added the need to close the gap on certain new technologies
including renewables, nuclear energy, 5G and technology adoption,
with some UK businesses lagging behind international competitors.
The meeting concluded by noting the success of the Council as a
productive forum for communication between business and
government. The Business Secretary thanked attendees on behalf of
the Prime Minister.
