NAJ roundtable discusses future of trade with Chris Bryant MP

The National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) hosted a special 23 person industry wide roundtable on 8 February, bringing together all facets of the UK Jewellery, Silverware and Allied Crafts sectors, to meet with Sir Chris Bryant MP, shadow minister for creative and digital, part of the Department for Digital, Media Culture and Sport (DCMS).

The DCMS approached the NAJ to gather representative industry businesses, organisations and institutions to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the jewellery trade.

Working collaboratively across sectors, the NAJ reached out to representatives throughout the craft and industry to form the roundtable, helping shape a “comprehensive” agenda around four key facets – Economics, People, Process and Sector Specific (internal issues within the trade).

The representatives met in person with Bryant MP and other DCMS officials, all with the interest of creating a “growing”, “accessible” and “responsible” UK Jewellery, Silver and Allied Crafts (UK JSCA) industry.

The NAJ and trade partners called for greater recognition and support for an industry that employs 60,000 trained professionals and generates £8.5bn in annual revenue in retail, wholesale and manufacturing alone.

The NAJ asked roundtable participants to provide key challenges facing the industry and possible actions and solutions. Suggested areas of action were broken down into four focus areas, combining government involvement and broader action delivered by an ongoing collaborative approach within the jewellery trade.

Bryant MP was said to be “actively engaged” with the points delivered by those present, interrogating each area to broaden his own knowledge and understand jewellery and the allied trades within the broader context of the Creative Industries.

Adam Jacobs, NAJ vice chair, said: “The industry wide roundtable was a fantastic opportunity, not only to outline the opportunities and challenges facing the trade to the government but to bring all industry sectors together to discuss a shared vision for the future of the UK jewellery industry.

“The roundtable is a first step in greater collaboration and discussion within the trade and with external policy and decision makers. The NAJ is keen to ensure that the industry wide group is representative of the whole trade and welcomes input from organisations and individuals who wish to be involved.”

Noel Hunter, chair of the British Hallmarking Council, added: “Future growth of the Industry, so important to the U.K. economy, will rely on effective regulation and enforcement to ensure the safeguards that Hallmarking provides to U.K. consumers is protected. The growth of online trading which has led to an increase in digital fraud has been accompanied by a serious erosion of enforcement resources. This leaves consumers vulnerable and the U.K. industry facing unfair competition. These will be important challenges for any incoming government.”