The printing industry has cracked open the door of Number 10 for the first time in many years. And now IPIA chairman Charles Rogers is waiting for a second meeting which would demonstrate the success of his first meeting with two officials acting as special advisors to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Together with Puneet Gupta, founder of PG Paper Co, Rogers spent 30 minutes inside the building laying out the challenges that print currently faces and led to the submission of requests for structural support.
These cover becoming part of the energy intensive industries exemption scheme; expansion of the capital allowance scheme; introduction of a subsidy or tax scheme to reduce the cost of core industry materials and postage; implement bans on paper products that fall short of UK environmental aspirations and standards; making print and paper an ‘industry of strategic value’ ensuring that it is included in future effort to stimulate manufacturing support schemes and help mitigate the loss of competitiveness compared to EU printers in doing business in Ireland.
There were three requests for strategic support: leveraging print and paper’s sustainability performance as part of ambitions for the UK to be a world leader in sustainability; engagement with print industry associations as part of the levelling up agenda and apprenticeship schemes and for a government led campaign to drive awareness of the role the printing industry plays in daily life.
It was a big chunk of business to get across in a short meeting. “We could spend 30 minutes discussing any one of those subjects,” says Rogers.
Instead he is hoping that a follow up meeting, at a date to be decided, will lead to an opportunity to discuss issues in more detail. “This was the print and paper sector saying ‘these are the things we would like to bring to your attention’. This is a first step.”
Rogers, who took on the mantle of IPIA chair last year having been a council member since 2016, was invited to join Gupta at the meeting with just two weeks’ notice ahead of the date. This was itself the result of endless networking since joining the IPIA’s council.
Rapid consultation with IPIA council members and other trade associations for print under the auspices of the GPMA followed to ensure that any presentation and dossier could be effective. Gupta explains the importance of the industries talking at the heart of government: “In today’s fast paced digital world, the paper and print industry faces a range of challenges that require innovation, collaboration, and adaptability to overcome. It’s important to have open and honest conversations about navigating these. By bringing together stakeholders from various sectors of the industry we look to develop strategies to overcome the challenges and support growth.”
Rogers is more succinct: “It’s better than being on the other side of the door where we have been as an industry for far too long,” he says.
