With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, sitting alongside the UK’s exit from the European Union, ongoing challenges with boosting productivity and ‘levelling-up’ economic realities across the country, economic growth and prosperity sits at the very centre of the dialogue between the public, private and not for profit sector collaboration.
The events and content produced throughout the year will look at some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for Whitehall and the private sector to work together to navigate the rebuilding of the economy after the pandemic.
With reference to COVID-19 throughout, there will be a focus on the Industrial Strategy, regional growth, R&D, productivity and the wider economic picture.
The core events within the Economic Growth and Prosperity theme will focus on:
Dan Micklethwaite was appointed as Director of Strategy and Policy at BEIS in November 2020. He is a member of the department’s Executive Committee, and oversees the department’s central strategy and policy functions, as well as ministerial private offices. He reports to the BEIS Permanent Secretary, Sarah Munby.
Dan was previously the Director of Aviation at DfT (and the UK Director General of Civil Aviation) from summer 2016, with overall responsibility for UK policy on aviation. He was also elected as Vice President of the European Civil Aviation Conference in 2019 (the European arm of the UN aviation agency).
During his time as aviation director, he launched a fundamental review of the UK’s aviation strategy leading to a major Green Paper published in 2019. He was also the UK’s Chief Delegate to the 2016 General Assembly of the UN Aviation Agency where he helped negotiate the world’s first ever global aviation climate change deal. Dan also led on the UK’s preparations for Brexit and aviation, which included the successful negotiation of around 15 new aviation trade deals, including with the United States, China and India.
Sinead O’Sullivan joined the Higher Education and Further Education Group in February 2018 and is responsible for coordinating the Department’s skills contribution to economic recovery, particularly regarding bootcamps and L3 entitlement (SRO for National Skills Fund). She is also responsible for leadership of the Group’s analysts, as well as ensuring that analysis of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) provides students and their families with better quality data to help make choices about their tertiary education. Previously Sinead has been a Director of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), working with schools and higher education providers to recruit people to train as teachers, and to develop stronger CPD and leadership programmes for the schools workforce. In previous roles, she has worked closely with Parliament on legislation; was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State; and has led a diverse series of projects ranging from school improvement initiatives, through to a comprehensive review of how the Department operates.
Ravi Chand CBE is the Director of Places for Growth and Beyond at the Cabinet Office. Before the Cabinet Office, Ravi was the chief people officer at the Department for International Development (DFID), holding responsibility for people, operations, IT and systems, estates and change.
He was previously the HR director at HM Revenue and Customs with responsibility for workforce management of its 69,000 staff. He led the work on reforming the workforce to deliver the department’s blueprint ambitions for the future. Passionate about diversity, Ravi has previously worked as the director responsible for capability, talent and diversity at the Home Office.
He was awarded a CBE in 2011 for his dedicated work on inclusion and diversity which led to the Home Office reaching the gold standard against a number of external diversity benchmarks.
Ravi is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2002 for distinguished service.
Ben joined Tesco in August 2017 as Group Government Relations Director. He is responsible for Tesco’s political engagement strategy and policy areas such as Brexit and business rates. A member of two Leadership Teams (Legal and Communications), Ben works closely with the Exec and colleagues across the business on risk, regulatory and reputational issues.
Prior to Tesco Ben was a Director at Tulchan Communications, where he founded and led the firm’s public affairs capability across FTSE 100 and 250 clients, including financial services, retail and oil and gas. Before Tulchan, Ben was the Director of Government Affairs and Deputy Executive Director (Communications) at the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) between 2009 – 2014.
Misa is the Head of Research at the Bank of England. She has joined the Bank in 2002 after completing a D.Phil in Economics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. She has held a number of positions across Monetary Analysis, Financial Stability, and Prudential Policy Areas of the Bank. Misa has previously published articles on international policy spillovers, bonus regulations, and sovereign debt finance in Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Financial Intermediation, and Economic Journal, amongst others. Misa's current research interests include prudential policies and the impact of climate change on the financial system.
Yael is Chief Economist at KPMG in the UK and a Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
She has been advising clients on the global economic outlook and its impact on their strategy for over 20 years. Her experience spans private sector clients across a wide range of industries and geographies, as well as public sector bodies.
Her research looks at the impact major shocks, as well as new technologies, could have on the economy and on individual businesses. Her work at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research looks at ways to lift growth across UK regions.
Yael is a regular commentator on economic issues in the media. She won City A.M. Analyst of the Year award in 2016 for the research she published on the outlook for interest rates, global trade and equity markets, and was named one of City A.M. Power 100 Women.
She is a member of the Council of Management of SUERF and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee.
Donna Leong is Director, Economic Statistics Change at the Office for National Statistics, with the aim of improving the quality, timeliness, accessibility and relevance of economic statistics. An economist by training, she has worked in a variety of roles in government including EU and international trade negotiations, Brexit readiness preparations, economic regulation, consumer policy, and financial stability.
