Marco Amitrano has been appointed Business Co Chair of the Professional and Business Services Council, proving that government and industry remain committed to meeting in rooms where the chairs have already been arranged.
The Department for Business and Trade announced the appointment on 5 June. Amitrano, Senior Partner of PwC UK and Middle East, began a two year term on 1 June. He succeeds Iain Wright, who served as interim chair since October 2024. Baroness Lloyd of Effra remains Government Co Chair, giving the partnership a business half and a government half, like a handshake that has been divided into two departments.
The Council is described as the main independent forum bringing government and the Professional and Business Services sector together. Its purpose is to support the sector’s long term success and help deliver the relevant plan under the Government’s Industrial Strategy. This is an impressive amount of strategy for a group whose first practical challenge may be agreeing who is responsible for circulating the minutes.
Amitrano brings more than 30 years of experience in advisory and assurance services. His senior PwC roles include Managing Partner and Senior Partner. The appointment therefore brings in someone familiar with the delicate art of turning a complicated question into a presentation, then adding a final slide called Next Steps. The slide is understood to contain no steps yet, but remains confident about the future.
The Government says professional and business services account for around 14 percent of UK jobs and form one of eight priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy. This makes the sector extremely important, which is why it now has another meeting where extremely important people can confirm this together, preferably beneath a banner about delivery.
There is nothing absurd about government and industry working together. The comic miracle is the ceremony required to announce that collaboration is important, complete with a new co chair, a two year mandate and enough capital letters to make a filing cabinet feel represented. The Council can now pursue investment, innovation and growth, while the clipboard pursues its own smaller ambition of being described as practical.
The first agenda item will presumably be a shared commitment to practical outcomes. The second will decide which shared commitment is allowed to leave the room before the biscuits. By then, the handshake will have been approved by both sides and sent back for further consultation.
Source: GOV.UK.
