A new group focused on the keeping the UK’s professional services sector globally competitive and set up to support the work of the Chancellor’s High-Level group, held its first meeting today.

The Professional Services Global Competitiveness (PSGC) group will look at medium- and longer-term issues affecting the Professional Services sector. The group is co-chaired by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Kitty Ussher MP and Sir Michael Snyder, Senior Partner at Kingston Smith LLP.

Professional services make a vital contribution to the UK’s continued leadership in financial services and supporting a globally competitive industry.

The PSGC group will meet monthly, and report back to the Chancellor’s High-Level Group on City Competitiveness, which aims to promote London as the leading international financial centre. The resulting analysis should enable the High-Level Group to prioritise the challenges for the UK-based Professional Services industry and related public policy challenges.

Kitty Ussher MP said:

"The Chancellor has prioritised making London and the whole UK a globally competitive financial centre. The Professional Services Global Competitiveness group will be key to achieving this aim, and represents an essential partnership between government and industry. The Government is committed to working alongside people from the professional services industry to build a debate on public policy that will benefit both the financial services sector and the UK ."

Sir Michael Snyder said:

"I am delighted to have been asked by the Treasury to jointly chair this group with Kitty, which I believe will provide a vital boost to the professional services industry in the UK. Professional services make a huge contribution to the success of London as a financial centre. The group draws on considerable expertise from across the entire industry, and has already made good progress in identifying several priority workstreams."

Notes to Editors:

1. The first meeting of the Professional Services Global Competitiveness (PSGC) group was held at HM Treasury on 10 September 2008. The group is chaired jointly by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Kitty Ussher MP, and Sir Michael Snyder, Senior Partner at Kingston Smith LLP and former chair of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee.
2. The group will consider a range of issues affecting the global competitiveness of the UK’s Professional Services industry, including both horizontal and sector-specific concerns. It will report directly to the Chancellor’s High Level Group on City Competitiveness, which was set up by the Government in 2006 to develop and support a strategy for promoting London as a world-leading financial centre.
3. The UK is a leading provider of many professional services including legal, accounting and related services, management consultancy and financial services information, servicing users across the domestic and international market and in particular the activities of financial firms located in London and other parts of the UK.
4. The Group co-chairs may, from time to time, invite relevant sector-wide groups and associations representing the legal, accounting and other sectors to contribute to the work of the Group.
5. Membership of the Group includes:
   • Bruce Buck, Managing Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
   • Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive, UK Trade and Investment
   • Andi Case, Chief Executive, Clarkson’s PLC
   • David Cheyne, Senior Partner, Linklaters LLP
   • Michael Cleary, Managing Partner, Grant Thornton
   • Mark Dawkins, Managing Partner, Simmons and Simmons
   • John Griffith-Jones, Chairman and Senior Partner, KPMG LLP
   • Mridul Hegde, Director, Financial Services, HM Treasury
   • Laurence Longe, National Managing Partner, Baker Tilly
   • Michael Mainelli, Director, Z/Yen
   • Scott McDonald, Managing Partner, Oliver Wyman
   • Stuart Popham, Senior Partner, Clifford Chance LLP
   • Ian Powell, Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
   • Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser and Director-General of Economics, Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
   • Babloo Ramamurthy, Regional Manager, Europe, Watson Wyatt
   • John Stephen, Chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle
   • Ken Shuttleworth, Senior Partner, Make Architects
   • Susan Taylor-Martin, Managing Director and Senior Company Officer, UK and Ireland, Thomson Reuters
   • Simon Whitehouse, Managing Director, Accenture
   • Ian Yeulett, Chief Executive, Europe and Africa, Bloomberg