Driving Social and Economic change

Thank you to South Eastern Regional College for inviting me to speak at such an interesting and thoughtful conference. It is clear that responsible business activity is central to achieving inclusive growth, so engaging with businesses must be at the heart of inclusive growth strategies.

Paid work is no longer providing a guarantee of economic inclusion. There are more people in the UK living in poverty in working than non-working households. Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2018 Inequalities and poor social outcomes (such as poor health and education) also affect productivity and growth potential for businesses and society alike. So building a more inclusive economy is in everyone’s interest.

How do we bring together policymakers and stakeholders from business, trade unions, civil society and academia to debate key social and economic challenges related to responsible business in order to help shape the Northern Ireland policy agenda on inclusive growth?

Bravo to South Eastern Regional College for leading the way!