Business Environment and Skills Group

The Business Environment & Skills Working Group (BE&S WG) was established in Autumn 2013 as a key action from the Automotive Sector Strategy.  Its broad remit is to ensure that the UK automotive industry has the best business environment to operate in, including access to the right skills. To pursue this goal, workstreams have been established on:

  • Skills
  • Business Environment
  • UK International Competitiveness
  • Europe

Skills workstream

Objective: to ensure the UK automotive industry can support and develop the skills needed for sustainable success.

Priorities for this workstream include:

  1. Development and implemention of a skills roadmap, to ensure a pipeline of talent to meet current and future workforce needs.
  2. Tracking progress by Automotive Council members in recruiting 10,000 apprentices and 2,000 graduates by 2018.

Business Environment workstream

Objective: to address issues impacting the business environment for the UK automotive sector.

Priorities for this workstream include:

  1. Strengthening links with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Devolved Administrations (DAs), by developing new ways of engaging strategically.
  2. Considering how industry and government work together on key policy and regulatory issues, such as air quality, Intelligent Mobility and supporting the development of the early market for Ultra Low Emission Vehicles.
  3. Engagement with potential suppliers of vehicles to ensure upcoming public procurement opportunities are well understood.

LEP Leadership Forum

The LEP Leadership Forum (LLF) has been established to drive strategic engagement between the Automotive Council and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).  The LLF meets twice a year and brings together at least 17 LEPs with the greatest automotive focus.

Each participating LEP has produced a summary of their activity to support the growth of the UK automotive industry. Click here to find out more.

UK International Competitiveness workstream

Objective: to develop a scorecard for the UK’s international competitiveness.

Priorities for this workstream include:

  1. Analysis of international competitiveness of the UK automotive industry.
  2. Identification of opportunities and specific areas of importance where UK international competitiveness is varied significantly by components or business models.
  3. Development of Key Performance Indicators for the UK automotive industry.

Europe workstream

Objective: to support a co-ordinated, evidence based approach by Government and industry to EU engagement on industrial policy and regulatory issues affecting the automotive sector.

Priorities for this workstream include:

  1. To consider options for a post-2020 approach to CO2 reductions in the automotive sector that would best achieve environmental, economic and industrial goals.
  2. Development of a status report on the UK-EU automotive industry relationship.
  3. Development of a status report and reform proposals on UK-EU institutional engagement relevant to the automotive sector.