CEO blog - April 2023

By Tom Bowtell, Chief Executive Officer of the BCF

Spring feels like it is finally about to come as we head into the Easter weekend, and I wanted to update members on two major issues – UK REACH and PaintCare.

Behind the scenes, we continue to keep our advocacy efforts focused on UK REACH, which was flagged up in our recent survey as one of the major threats to the sector in the future.  I met with DEFRA’s Chemicals Minister, Rebecca Pow MP at the end of March, where I put over the sector’s concerns on where UK chemical regulations are heading.  I encouraged her to build on the Windsor Agreement achieved in Northern Ireland, to get closer and more pragmatic cooperation with the EU on chemicals management.  We want a system that is sovereign, protects human health and allows for innovation and investment in manufacturing in the UK.  I feel the Government will over time take a more pragmatic approach, but we only have a few months to influence this.  Do rest assured that we will keep this as our number one issue. 

I’m excited that we are getting closer with our PaintCare plans – now into the final push to get members and retailers to sign up to the PaintCare prospectus, which we are about to publish to our Decorative Coatings members for consultation in April.  The 80-page document outlines in detail how PaintCare will work, and we really are at the Go/No Go decision point.  I hope we have the courage and ambition to go ahead with PaintCare, and I wanted to thank Steve Snaith for the huge amount of work he has put into the project.

I’ll finish with a couple of plugs – you’ve got until early May to finalise your entries for this year’s BCF awards - we have a new award in our Race to Net Zero category, and up to five awards will have dedicated SME entry categories, provided we get enough SME entries. This is to help make a more level playing field, given SMEs cannot always compete with the resources of the major global players.

We are also close to last orders for ticket sales for our Conference on May 25th, and we’ve now got over 60 riders signed up for our charity bike ride on June 23rd – there is still time to sign up!  Enjoy the long Easter weekend – we could all do with a break!