Steve Scrimshaw
Managing Director
Siemens Rail Systems UK

Steve Scrimshaw is Managing Director for Siemens Rail Systems in the UK – a division of Siemens that employs some 700 people nationwide and maintains over 350 passenger trains.

Steve began his career in the energy sector and worked for both Mitsui Babcock and Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group, before joining Siemens 14 years ago. He became Managing Director of the Rail Systems division in May 2007 and since that time has been deeply involved in a number of high profile rail-related contracts (including Thameslink and Eurostar).

In total Siemens has around 13000 employees in the UK, 8,000 of whom are involved in manufacturing and engineering. The company's extensive business activities support more than 54,000 jobs in the UK and generate around £1billion of UK exports.

Steve is also on the board of the National Skills Academy of Railway Engineering as well being a member of the Advisory Group for The University of Birmingham - Centre for Railway Research & Education.

Professor David Begg (Chair)
Chief Executive
Transport Times

Prof David Begg is Chief Executive of Portobello Partnership Ltd which specialises in strategic advice to clients in the transport sector; publishes Transport Times magazine; and runs a series of transport best practice awards in conjunction with the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland and Transport for London.

He is a non-executive board member of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd and is a member of the Cubic Transportation Systems' Advisory Board.

From 1999 to 2005 he chaired the Government's Commission for Integrated Transport which was set up to advise the Government on transport policy and to monitor performance. He was a board member of Transport for London from 2000 to 2006 before joining Tube Lines as chairman (2006-2010). He was a non-executive director of the Strategic Rail Authority and before that British Rail. From 2005-2014 David was a Non-Executive Director of First Group Ltd.

Before moving to London he was Professor of Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. He is a visiting professor in Transport at Plymouth University. In the 1990s he was the political lead on transport on Lothian Region and then the City of Edinburgh councils.

Richard Scott
Executive Director, Corporate Affairs
Virgin Trains

Richard is responsible for internal and external communications at Virgin Trains, including media, public affairs, consumer pr, social media and internal communications. Richard joined Virgin Trains in March 2014 from Heathrow, where he was Head of Media. Prior to that he spent nearly 15 years at the BBC, including two and a half years as Transport Correspondent.

Claire Perry MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Transport

In 2007 Claire worked an adviser to George Osborne before being elected as the MP for the Devizes constituency in central Wiltshire in May 2010. Highlights of her political career include:

• member of the Justice Select Committee from 2010 to 2011
• Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence, from 2011 to 2013
• Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of children
• Government Whip in 2013 and in 2014

Lilian Greenwood MP (invited)
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Lilian Greenwood was elected on 6th May 2010 to serve as the Labour Member of Parliament for Nottingham South – which covers the wards of Bridge, Clifton North, Clifton South, Dunkirk and Lenton, Leen Valley, Radford and Park, Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey and Wollaton West.

Lilian is determined to stand up for Nottingham South and has already helped secure £60 million of funding to refurbish the city's train station, an extension to Nottingham's tram network and the upgrading of the A453. As well as this, Lilian has worked with local partners to bring the Nottingham Greener HousiNG11 external wall insulation scheme to Clifton, helped secure funding for Decent Homes in Nottingham and has campaigned to bring about regulation of landlords and Homes of Multiple Occupation. In Parliament, Lilian continues to urge the Government to abolish its divisive bedroom tax and has called on the Prime Minister to stand up to the energy companies and get a better deal for ordinary families.

In October 2010, Lilian was asked to take on the position of Assistant Whip, giving her responsibility for organising other Labour MPs when the party votes in the House of Commons and to assist the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions challenge the Coalition Government and hold them to account over their programme of severe cuts.

In October 2011, the Labour Leader asked Lilian to take on a role in the transport team with responsibility for the local transport brief. In January 2013 she switched to the shadow rail brief.