Government joins forces with industry to develop engineers
Vince Cable today (3 November 2014) marked the start of the second Tomorrow’s Engineers Week by confirming the government’s commitment to invest in training the engineers of the future. Speaking at the start of a week of activity that seeks to challenge the perceptions of engineering among young people, their parents and teachers, the Business Secretary announced that government and employers are working together to develop the engineering workforce Britain needs to compete on the world stage.
Acting on the recommendations of ‘Perkins Review of Engineering Skills’ published in November 2013, the government has established partnerships with employers from across industry with multi-million pound collaborative investments in initiatives such as national colleges for manufacturing, energy and high-speed rail and £30 million of match funding for businesses to design and deliver innovative skills training. The first £20 million of the fund is currently open for employers looking to develop projects aimed at improving engineering careers and increasing the number of women in the sector. The final £10 million will soon be made available to develop engineering skills in smaller companies.
South West Water was today confirmed as the first company to be granted match funding as part of the £30 million initiative. The government and South West Water are to co-invest more than £250,000 in developing the skills needed to replenish an ageing workforce. With up to 40% of the company’s current operational workforce due to retire within the next decade, South West Water is investing in the skills it needs to continue to deliver a quality service to its customers and manage the loss of experienced staff.
Tomorrow’s Engineers Week seeks to inspire young people to take their first steps towards a career in the sector by celebrating the everyday engineering heroes that design, create and innovate to improve our lives. The week was launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in 2013 in partnership with the engineering industry following the ‘Perkins Review of Engineering Skills’, which called for government and engineering firms to work together to secure the UK’s engineering future. The week sees the publication of a one-year-on progress report by Professor Perkins.
In addition to securing the supply of engineers, the government is working with the engineering industry to increase the diversity of the sector. It is vital that women have the same opportunities to progress in their career as their male counterparts, and government is funding the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering to run a joint STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) Diversity Programme to understand and address issues of diversity, including gender, in the STEM workforce.
