AMEC:AMEC's part of the Government's Advisory Elite

Oil & Gas Industry Task Force
Managing Director of AMEC Services, Mike Straughen, was part of the Oil & Gas Industry Task Force 2. A large proportion of this Task Force was made up of the executives of the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA), the representative organisation for the bosses of companies that make up the UK offshore oil and gas industry.[xcvi]

AMEC and DTI
AMEC is on the list of companies, presented by John Battle (Minister of State: Department of Trade and Industry 1997-99) on 5th March 1999, which had staff on secondment in the DTI and its directorate.

AMEC Employees' positions within government[xcvii]

Regeneration Task Force, Kosovo
After NATO bombs had destroyed bridges, roads and power stations, Trade minister John Battle met with business representatives to set up a regeneration task force for Kosovo. The meeting involved a range of business representatives including the Confederation of British Industry and the British Consultation Bureau. It also included AMEC, which carried out reconstruction work in Sarajevo after the Bosnian conflict.[xcviii]
AMEC is also part of the Regeneration Urban Task Force (see below) and of a working group advising the government on 'Policies Relating to the Historic Environment'.[xcix]

AMEC and Regeneration in the UK
'AMEC's leading position in UK urban regeneration has been strengthened by securing partnerships including those with the English Cities Fund, Reading Borough Council and British Waterways for developments with a total capital value of up to £1.5billion.'[c]

On 13 December 2001, the government approved a new £250m fund designed to assist private investment in neglected areas of the country. The English Cities Fund, which was developed by English Partnerships and its two private sector partners AMEC and Legal & General, is worth an initial £100 million investment. The European Commission (EC) cleared English Cities Fund as a legitimate State Aid. The fund plays an important role in the delivery of the Government's urban renaissance agenda.
AMEC claims to be 'the only private sector organisation to sit on the UK Government's City Challenge urban regeneration panel.'[ci]

Footnotes
[xcvi] Red Star Research, website: http://www.red-star-research.org.uk/subframe2.html accessed 19 March 2002
[xcvii] The Campaign for Freedom of Information, web site: www.cfoi.org.uk/secondeesdti.htm <http://www.cfoi.org.uk/secondeesdti.htm> accessed 19 April 2002
[xcviii] BBC News, 15 June 1999
[xcix]'Government Review of Policies Relating to the Historic Environment', Council for British Archaeology, CBA website: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/info/ehreview12.html accessed 19 March 2002
[c] AMEC Annual Report and Accounts 2001, page 3
[ci] Overview of AMEC's activities, categorized by market sector, the public sector, AMEC website: http://www.amec.com/ourservices/level3services.asp?pageid=14 accessed 19.03.2002