Industry and Parliament Trust

The Industry and Parliament Trust (IPT) is a charity that works to promote the mutual understanding of Parliament and business. It works within the Parliament of the United Kingdom and organisations from all sectors of industry. It is non partisan, non lobbying and not for profit. Its activities include:
Fellowship programmes for Members of Parliament (MPs), peers and senior parliamentary staff. Fellowships provide the opportunity to gain hands on experience at a variety of companies, spanning the various sectors through bespoke programmes of placements;
Courses, seminars, panel discussions, lectures and events for policymakers, business people, academics, and civil servants;
A series of policy events echoing the most pertinent issues of the day being discussed in Parliament and business. MP attachments for civil servants. To see how MPs day to day decisions directly impacts the formulation of policy. The Industry and Parliament Trust is based in Whitehall, London, close to the Houses of Parliament.

The IPT Board of Trustees includes seven MPs and three members of the House of Lords. It also includes representatives from business, legal and parliamentary clerks. The current chair of the trustees is Baroness Prosser and the Presidents are the Speaker of the House of Commons, The Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and the Speaker of the House of Lords, The Lord Fowler Kt PC. The Chief Executive is Nick Maher who began at the IPT in July 2011 having previously served in the Ministry of Defence on a team constructing a 'New Employment Model' for the Armed Forces. His predecessor was Sally Muggeridge, who served as Chief Executive for seven years. The IPT employs eleven members of staff, all based in Whitehall, London.

The IPT was founded in 1977 by the CEOs of 10 major British companies who sought to create dialogue between business and Parliament. It became a registered charity in 1983. The IPT has organised more than 600 Fellowship programmes since it was founded. When the IPT was set up, just 15% of MPs had any direct business experience. Today that figure much higher, though needless to say there is still a substantial proportion of MPs without a comprehensive understanding of business. In October 2009 the IPT commissioned a research project into the business experience of the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) who stood in the 2010 General Election. The research found that of the PPCs in winnable seats, less than half (48%) had any form of business management or financial services experience.

The IPT has sister projects in Wales (Industry and National Assembly for Wales Association) and Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Assembly and Business Trust). A Scottish project, the Scottish Parliament Business Exchange closed in 2016. New Zealand has its own version of the model, the NZ Business & Parliament Trust.