New BPF President Outlines His Theme for 2013-15 at Bank Meeting

At the recent annual meeting of the BPF's Council at the Bank of England, Mike Boswell, newly elected Federation President, outlined the theme for his two year Presidency.

Mr Boswell said: “I am continuing with the overall theme of my distinguished predecessor Philip Watkins namely: ‘A Sustainable Plastics Industry – A Strategic Asset in our Manufacturing Economy’.

I want to focus on realising our industry’s growth and innovation potential; and securing investment in UK Plastics Manufacturing.

The BPF can help to achieve these aims by working to meet our industry’s needs in: finance; energy; skilled staff; and a stimulus for construction."

Under those four headings Mr Boswell outlined the current and future work the BPF would be undertaking:

Finance: Available and affordable for plastics firms to fulfil their potential;

Energy: - Reducing energy use through the new BPF Climate Change Agreement

              - Press for reliable, secure, affordable future energy supplies;

              - Promote EfW as a provider of local heat and energy from unrecyclables.

Skilled Staff: - Define what the industry needs;

                     - Ensure education and training providers meet that need;

                     - Promote Plastics industry careers

Construction: - Measures to stimulate property buying and building

                      - 5% VAT on Green Deal Products

                      - Investment in new infrastructure.

A substantial part of the Council Meeting was dedicated to presenting the results of the BPF's latest Business Conditions Survey to senior Bank of England staff and Council Members were able to discuss and explain the trends in their particular sectors with the Bank's Agent for Greater London, Peter Andrews, and its Deputy Governor, Charlie Bean, who is a member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee.

ENDS

For all media enquiries, BPF logos and images, please contact Philip Law, on 0207 457 5011 or Email: [email protected]

Notes for editors:

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry – representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.