ePolitix.com speaks to Labour MP Barry Sheerman about his role as chairman of Policy Connect and the importance of fair access to Parliament.

For more from Policy Connect, also read our interview with Lynva Russell

Question:  As chairman of Policy Connect what are you hoping to achieve?

Barry Sheerman: A Conservative member and myself set up the organisation Networking for Industry (NFI) around 13 years ago. We set up NFI because we were frustrated that people thought they could not come into Parliament and talk to parliamentarians about the things that really matter to them. In particular, those people who were in the industrial and commercial sectors, the wealth-makers out there.

We decided you shouldn’t actually have to hire a PR person or lobbyist to connect with Parliament. We instead set up a not-for-profit, entirely transparent and visible group that will allows you to do this with all-party support.

We started this nearly 14 years ago and we named it Networking for Industry. Our very first group was the all-party group for manufacturing and we have grown from there. We now have a range of parliamentary groups, forums and commissions. All these follow the interest of both parliamentarians and people in the real world.

Question: Some of your Labour parliamentary colleagues believe that business already has too great an influence on government - how do you persuade them that Policy Connect has a useful role to play?

Barry Sheerman: Those same colleagues feel a lot more at ease when they know that what is being discussed is not just for one company or interest or sector. People understand the value if you have a range of people talking about a range of issues from health, the environment to design and innovation.

The new Policy Connect and the old NFI has a Management and Scrutiny Board chaired by Lord Lewis in the Lords and three very distinguished colleagues who make sure we absolutely stick to all the rules. Not only do we have scrutiny, we have transparency and this has put concerns to rest. People like the very neutral and objective way in which we do things.

Question: As chairman of the Commons education and skills committee do you find there isn't enough cooperation between government and business in preparing pupils and students for the world of work?

Barry Sheerman: I think that’s absolutely right. What has been encouraging over recent years is that we have seen an enormous amount of effort put in to bridge that gap. It’s interesting, we are talking today after what’s going to be looked back on as a seminal speech by the prime minister, which will become known as the Greenwich speech, when he made just that point.

The reason we now have a parliamentary skills group, a national skills forum and a skills commission is because we saw this tremendous gap when we looked at early years and higher education. We found that as soon as you talk about skills and apprenticeships people didn’t come.

One of the fantastic things we are able to do is bridge that relationship. What we are always trying to do is to make sure it is not only the big companies, the companies that can afford to find access to Parliament, but the smaller and medium firms as well.

Question: A lot of businesses are unhappy with government proposals for capital gains tax. Could organisations like Policy Connect flag up concerns before they become problematic policies?

Barry Sheerman: Yes, but we are not a lobby organisation in that sense. We take a longer view. A lot of people will be active in lobbying about what they do and don’t want in the Budget. We look ahead; we don’t only react to the latest Budget.

For example, we have worked very hard over a number of years on environmental taxation, trying to modify that, being a good influence and making sure its effective and delivering what we do want in terms of combating climate change.

We are aware of what’s going on and this feeds in to our work. For example, our newest group is one called the Mars and Pluto Club which is about bringing together people in the City and people in Parliament, aiming to improve communication. That’s working very effectively and of course, these issues would be discussed at one of those meetings.

Question: Has the scrapping of the DTI helped business?

Barry Sheerman: I don’t really consider the DTI as being scrapped. It’s like Policy Connect, it has been re-branded and re-formulated.

There are always going to be changes in government departments as we see the demands change. The bigger change has been splitting the department for education and skills in two. You have some fundamental changes and all of us are nervous when such big changes come about. But I think if you work in the spirit of that change, we can make them effective for industry.

Question: You mentioned Policy Connect is NFI re-branded, what brought on this change?

Barry Sheerman: Well, people knew the groups that we run. However, NFI was an obscure holding name, people knew NFI but many didn’t even know what NFI stood for.

Of course, rebranding means talking to everyone and working it though internally. We have a really excellent young staff in place and Policy Connect came through as a better way of indicating to people what we do.

Question: What are the key aims of Policy Connect?

Barry Sheerman: The key aim of Policy Connect is to build a bridge between people outside and inside Parliament. It is your right in a democracy to have good communications, one which is not based on who you know or how much you pay.

Relationships with Parliament need to be open and accessible, transparent and trustworthy. So we will continue to develop this relationship, enabling that access. We have been very successful in the past, and we have a wonderful foundation to carry on being successful in the future.

Question: What will your priorities be for 2008?

Barry Sheerman: I suppose it’s to live up to the new brand of Policy Connect. We are working very closely with a number of research organisations as well as conducting and publishing our own policy research., we don’t do research ourselves, but we like to maintain good relations with the people who do good research. For example, we are working very closely with Tomorrow's Company. One of our priorities is to build relationships between us and those conducting high quality research. Very often they are looking for people who can join up industry, commerce, Parliament and government to make sure we get better legislation, understanding and communications.

Our aim is to reinvigorate that, make it our aim to make it more effective and of course to listen to our members. Our members tell us what are their great concerns. This is why we have groups on skills and on health; we are very active in design, innovation and the creative industries; and we are very big on the environment. One of our new groups is going to be the Carbon Club. This is going to be a networking group across all the resources, waste, energy, transport, land and water.

So to sum up, our priorities are to listen to our members, modify our organisation as issues change and to add real value.