The Confederation Lunch 2023

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There was an excellent turn out on a warm day in June for the annual Confederation lunch at the House of Commons, jointly organised by the BFC and the Furniture Makers Company. Close on 100 business leaders from the beds, furniture and commercial furniture manufacturing and retail sectors attended the event, hosted by Dewsbury MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group, Mark Eastwood.

Attendees not only grabbed this great opportunity to network with each other and enjoy the views of the Thames from Palace of Westminster’s terrace, but also heard from Kevin Hollingrake, MP, Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, who acknowledged the significance of our £42bn sector, employing more then 250,000 people.

Other speakers at the event were Amanda Waring, Master of the Furniture Makers Company; and Jessica Alexander on behalf of the BFC – who reminded attendees of the importance of nurturing a thriving and modern, UK-based furniture manufacturing sector, making life-enhancing products we all use all the time, every day and employing important craft skills alongside the most advanced manufacturing techniques.

Mark Eastwood also spoke about why he champions our sector: he has been a great advocate for the industry in parliament, frequently asking questions in the House and writing letter to ministers on our behalf.

Enjoy our gallery of pictures from the event – and we hope to see everyone who attended again next year -along with lots of new faces!

Read Jessica’s speech on behalf of the BFC

Speech for 2023 Confederation Lunch

Jessica Alexander

Good Afternoon everyone –

It’s great to see so many business leaders coming here today to support this event and support our industry.

The UK furniture and furnishings industry isn’t all that high profile, like car manufacturing or hospitality, or perceived as glamorous, like aerospace maybe, or IT.

We straddle the boundaries between manufacturing and design, industry and creative, high tech and hand craftmanship. We use both traditional methods and cutting edge technology including robotics, 3D printing and advanced CAD/CAM.

We make beautiful, practical items that we all use all the time, every day, in our homes, our offices, our places of education, when we’re away at events or on holiday. They enhance our lives, please our eyes, make us happy, make us comfortable, even keep us healthy.

Every developed country should have its own, healthy furniture and furnishings manufacturing industry.

And ours here in the UK is far from being an insignificant sector. Although we are an industry made up mostly of micro and SME businesses, collectively over 26,000 businesses contribute over £42 billion to the UK economy and provide livelihoods and fulfilling employment to more than a quarter of a million people.

The British Furniture Confederation was formed back in 2006 by some of the sector’s leading trade associations as a new way to give the furniture industry a voice in government – to raise with government the issues that matter to our sector.

We now have a voice and plenty of opportunities to be heard, for which we are grateful to successive ministers and successive chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Group.

But there’s plenty more to be done if we are still to have a thriving furniture and furnishing manufacturing industry in the UK in years to come, and we look forward to further meaningful engagement on topics close to our hearts.

For example, our sector is facing significant skills shortages. While it is encouraging to see the numbers of students undertaking our furniture-based apprenticeship standards are up 15% from pre-pandemic levels to over 1,200 – without a significant increase in these numbers and ongoing support for sector specific qualifications, the impact on future growth won’t be resolved. Closing the gap is also critically dependent on a robust network of training providers, who are facing their own skills shortage and potential funding cuts. We ask government to recognise that the health and robustness of our training providers is vital to achieving significant reductions to our skills gap and to provide the funding and certainty they need to grow and support us.

A good dialogue between business and government is the sign of a healthy and thriving democracy. The BFC is here to provide that bridge and we look forward to continuing to raise with government the specific concerns of our industry sector –flammability regulations, sustainability, exports – and to continue build on and develop a level of productive communication that can benefit all parties.

Thank you.