Better together: Meeting to forge public-private partnerships - 06 Oct 2008
Representatives of leading northern law firm Dickinson Dees LLP, who hosted the event, Nestlé, CPP and National Express, together with other North Yorkshire private sector professionals, joined forces with Yorkshire Forward, City of York Council, Science City York and Business Link Yorkshire and other public sector bodies to discuss how to improve communications between the two sectors.
Philip Ashworth, corporate partner and head of Dickinson Dees’ York office, explained: “The idea behind this came from a conversation at a CBI dinner between myself and Paul Grimwood, the Chief Executive of Nestle in York.
“We both believed that there is often uncertainty and confusion in business as to what individual public sector organisations do and how they link in with each other. In these difficult economic times, excellent communication is absolutely essential if Yorkshire is to prosper,” said Mr Ashworth. “We believe this breakfast seminar achieved a much greater understanding of each other’s role and needs.”
Simon Hill, director of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, told the group that his organisation was pioneering a drive to remove excessive bureaucracy within the public sector and to streamline Yorkshire Forward’s operation.
“Our aim to make sure that anyone who approaches Yorkshire Forward for business advice is given it, be that by us, by Business Link Yorkshire or by other public sector bodies. There is no wrong door and we will always point people in the right direction. We won’t turn anyone away,” he said.
“We are now avoiding duplication and increasing our drive to have a pro-active relationship with the private sector. We are moving away from concentrating mainly on SME’s and start-ups in an effort to forge a partnership with successful private sector companies to help us all be part of a dynamic economic community,” he commented.
“Ultimately all public sector organisations in Yorkshire aim to share information and advice, so we can provide a superb service for the county’s dynamic business community.” he added.
Other speakers were Bill Woolley of York City Council, Helen West of Business Link Yorkshire, Denise Stuart of york-england.com and Sue Gradwell of North Yorkshire’s Business In Education Partnership.
Philip Ashworth commented: “Caroline Arkwright at yorkengland.com put together an absolutely excellent guest list for the event, with significant players from the public sector together with a wide range of business people from the greater York area. We all left with a much better understanding of what each other do, with must be good news for Yorkshire’s economic prosperity.”