But how well do our politicians understand the importance of this industry to the UK economy, and what are they doing to support it? One of the major tasks for the BPIF this year is to engage with our elected representatives to inform them about our industry and press them to support actions necessary to help our companies prosper and grow.
We began this task in earnest with the All Party Print Parliamentary Group Reception at the House of Commons on 6 July, where BPIF member companies, MPs and peers met to discuss the issues currently affecting the industry. Ahead of this, the BPIF sent a briefing document entitled Priorities for Print to all MPs setting out our concerns and what we believe should be done by government.
Priorities for Parliament
There are a number of things that government can do to help our industry, but the priorities should be to simplify business support programmes and ensure that these are sufficiently well funded and relevant to the needs of SMEs.
There must be sufficient support for sectoral initiatives to drive innovation and business improvement through government organisations working in partnership with the various trade associations.
Pressure must be maintained on the banking sector to improve lending to SMEs and ensure greater competition
in finance provision, in order to increase the supply of funding for investment in new and replacement technology. Legislation should also be passed to ensure that companies and public bodies cannot enhance their own cashflow by imposing unreasonably drawn out payment terms on suppliers.
We need government and its agencies to recognise the power of print as a sustainable and effective communications medium when making media procurement decisions. Printing companies are at the forefront of improvements in environmental performance in manufacturing, with high levels of take-up for both the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and for FSC and PEFC chain of custody accreditations.
Yet damaging ‘greenwashing’ of the environmental impact of print and paper still abounds. Together with the Two Sides campaign, the BPIF is lobbying hard to change such misconceptions.
According to the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, a person reading web-based news for 30 minutes a day has a global warming potential of 35kg per year. Yet in a speech in March on building Britain’s digital future, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown maintained that all public services could be delivered online within four years under an ambitious pledge to create a paperless state.
The problem with relying on the internet to do things such as book a driving test, apply for a passport, pay for a TV licence or fill in a tax return, is that many of these transactions are complex.
Unless the technology is well thought through people will be disinclined to use it and will resent government efforts to force them to. It’s all very well to set out to save money and improve performance, but if it leads to a more distant relationship with government then it could turn out to be a false economy.
A paperless society could easily turn out to be a faceless one. With the new government looking to build a ‘big society’ and engage its citizens more actively, it would do well to harness the power of print to ensure it communicates effectively with them.
Andy Brown is director of corporate affairs at the BPIF
It is crucial that the new government recognises the importance of print
It's almost impossible to imagine a world without print. Print is an important vehicle for advertising, education, entertainment and information. It serves all parts of the UK economy - including central and local government, financial services, retailing, distribution, tourism and manufacturing. Print is an advanced manufacturing sector that uses cutting-edge information and production technologies. And together with paper and publishing, it forms part of the UK's fourth largest industry.
