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28 January 2008

Sir David Varney's Review of the Competitiveness of Northern Ireland

As announced at the publication of Sir David Varney’s Review of tax policy in Northern Ireland on 17 December, Sir David has been asked by the Chancellor to conduct a further review of the Northern Ireland economy, building on his recent work and focusing on identifying measures to promote private sector investment and enhance competitiveness in Northern Ireland.

The Terms of Reference of this review are:

“Building on Sir David's earlier analysis and agreement from all parties about the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland (in relation to the opportunities provided by the peace process, the need to strengthen the private sector, to create increased employment opportunities and to reform the public sector) this review will explore in more detail how to expand the private sector and to enhance Northern Ireland’s competitiveness. In this context, the review will look at incentives for supporting the sustainable growth of businesses, investment and employment in Northern Ireland and the implications for reducing the historic dependency on the public sector. This will include examination of incentives for growth in Northern Ireland that fall within the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government”

Sir David will aim to report in good time for the US Investment Conference, which is likely to take place in May.

Call for evidence

As part of the review, Sir David will be seeking views from as many stakeholders as possible, in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. The review team is looking for evidence on the particular challenges and opportunities for the Northern Ireland economy. A call for evidence was launched on 28 January 2008.

In order to deliver the report in good time for the US Investment Conference, the call for evidence will last for four weeks and will close on 25 February 2008. Sir David would be grateful for responses as soon as possible, however, to help inform the review’s work.

The documents are available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.

Details on how to reply to the call for evidence are contained in the call. Please send your replies as soon as possible to nireland.competitiveness@hm-treasury.gov.uk, or by post to:

Varney Review of the Competitiveness of Northern Ireland
Room 1/E1
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

Sir David Varney: biography

Sir David advises the Prime Minister on public service transformation, chairing the cross-Whitehall service delivery council. Prior to commencing his review of tax policy, he was Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs from its establishment in April 2005 to the end of August 2006, and before that he was Chairman of MM02, the leading mobile telecommunications company, since its creation in May 2001. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of BG Group (formerly British Gas) and he has held a variety of senior roles in Shell. He was also chairman of Business in the Community from 2002 to 2004.

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