Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to meeting number 52 of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
Just before we begin this meeting, which is carrying on with our current study, I'd like to introduce a gentleman who is here in support today. He's sitting at the back of the room. His name is Mr. Gilbert Dionne. Mr. Dionne is here, as was mentioned in our prior meeting, to support any of the community members who choose to use the paperless SharePlus system on your iPad. That has become an option. Mr. Dionne is here, and if you require assistance throughout the meeting or at any time, please indicate that to me, and we'll have Mr. Dionne notified. He'll move towards your position and he will assist you with whatever question you may have.
As I mentioned, we're here continuing with our current study exploring the potential of social finance in Canada. We have two witness panels today.
As we've heard many times throughout the course of our study, the United Kingdom has emerged as a world leader in social innovation and social finance. We're very pleased to have with us for the first hour, joined by way of video conference and representing the government of the United Kingdom, Mr. Kieron Boyle.
Mr. Boyle has a lengthy resumé working across the United Kingdom in government, but he joins us today as the head of social investment and finance at the U.K. Cabinet Office.
Welcome, sir. You will be presenting to us. Because you are our single witness here, I'm going to allow a lot of latitude and allow you to take as much time as is reasonable to present. We normally allow our witnesses 10 minutes, but certainly you're welcome to go over the 10 minutes if you wish. If you choose to do that, maybe I'll give you a signal when you're around 15 minutes, and we'll cut it off at that point.
Is that acceptable?