Business & Growth

Equity markets review: Equity investment needs to be recalibrated to support the long-term interests of companies and underlying beneficiaries such as pension fund members, Business Secretary Vince Cable said, as he launched an independent review into UK equity markets.

Design Summit: The Government is to put design at the heart of its plans for economic growth in the UK. The commitment was made by Science Minister David Willetts at 'Design for Growth', a high-level summit meeting of global business leaders, leading designers and Government co-hosted by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Design Council.

Low carbon construction plan: Business Minister Mark Prisk has outlined how Government and the construction industry will work together to decarbonise the built environment by 2050.

Higher Education & Skills

Government exceeds apprenticeship ambition: The Government’s ambition to deliver 50,000 additional apprenticeships has been substantially exceeded, official statistics have revealed.

New student finance taskforce launched: Universities Minister David Willetts backs the new taskforce on student finance, headed by Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com and former NUS President Wes Streeting.

Intellectual Property

Cracking results: Nine aspiring inventors from across the UK have had a cracking result and won a competition to come up with new designs for a theme park or ride. ‘Lava Springs’, ‘Wacky World’ and ‘Belter Skelter’ were among the winning entries for this year’s ‘Cracking Ideas’ competition.

Regulation

Pregnant Workers Directive: Edward Davey, Employment Relations Minister, has commented on the latest round of discussions at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels on the Pregnant Workers Directive.

Get involved

BIS currently has 4 consultations open. They include:

• Empowering and protecting consumers
• Modern Workplaces
• Regional Economic Performance Indicators