CONDUCT OF INQUIRY
12. This was a wide-ranging inquiry. Over the
course of 13 evidence sessions, we heard from a panel of young
engineers, senior representatives from the engineering community,
including the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Engineering and
Technology Board, the engineering institutions and Engineering
Council UK, charities promoting engineering, skills bodies, funding
bodies, industry representatives, including large and small employers,
venture capitalists and Government bodies, including four Ministers,
two Chief Scientific Advisers and the Government Chief Scientific
Adviser.
13. We also made a number of visits to inform
our work. We visited Sizewell B on 15 July 2008 and in October
2008 we visited Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo. We found these visits
to be extremely useful and were struck by the high esteem in which
UK engineering is held overseas. The Chairman and some members
of the Committee went on a number of informal visits in September
2008, including Sellafield, Westlakes Research Institute, the
Department of Physics and Molecular Vision at Imperial College
London, Culham Research Institute; Research Councils UK, the Technology
Strategy Board and the Printable Electronic Technologies Centre.
14. We conducted two e-consultations. The first,
'Engineering in the UK', which ran for six weeks in September
and October 2008, was aimed at engineering employers who might
otherwise not have had the opportunity to contribute to the inquiry.
It sought out opinion on the future of UK engineering and what
role the Government could play in promoting the sector. The second,
'Young engineers', set out to explore what young engineers thought
about engineering as a profession and to find out why they had
decided to pursue, or were contemplating, a career in engineering.
A summary of both e-consultations is printed with the submissions
we received.[12]
15. We would like to thank everyone who submitted
written evidence, all our witnesses, those who helped organise
and who we met on visits and all those people who contributed
to our e-consultations for their invaluable contributions.
16. Finally, we would like to thank the specialist
advisers who assisted the Committee throughout this inquiry. Professor
Mike Gregory, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing at the University
of Cambridge, and Dr Hayaatun Sillem, Head of International Activities
at the Royal Academy of Engineering, were our primary advisers,
and their tireless enthusiasm and expert advice helped to maintain
a keen focus on the key issues in a challengingly broad inquiry.
We would also like to thank the other advisers who contributed
on the case studies: Dr Paul Howarth, Executive Director of the
Dalton Nuclear Institute, University of Manchester; Professor
Peter Liss, University of East Anglia; Professor Donal Bradley,
Deputy Principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial
College London; and Professor Sir Roy Anderson, Rector of Imperial
College London.
STRUCTURE OF REPORT
17. The challenge of conducting an inquiry on
such a broad and cross-cutting topic is that the inquiry itself
becomes unwieldy. We therefore decided to take a case study approach.
To open the major inquiry, we held some exploratory sessions in
which we identified key themes that we would seek to address.
The first themes we chose to prioritise were skills and innovation.
The following questions were raised:
- on skills:
Is there a shortage of engineering skills? If so, what impact
does this have on national engineering programmes? What roles
do Government, universities, FE colleges and industry play in
providing training? What can be done to raise the public awareness
of engineering and engineers?
- on innovation: How
could the Government best support commercialisation of emerging
technologies and innovation? Is the Government sufficiently strategic
in supporting engineering research? How does the UK capitalise
on the economic potential of the engineering sector?
18. To explore these issues in some detail we
chose two case studies. For the skills issues we conducted an
inquiry on nuclear engineering (Chapter 2). For the innovation
issues we conducted an inquiry on plastic electronics engineering
(Chapter 3).
19. During the course of these case studies,
further questions arose. For example, what factors need to be
taken into consideration when looking at a new policy area? How
does the international context of engineering impact national
decisions on engineering policy? How do we inspire the next generation
of engineers? How does engineering advice inform policy making
in Government? To explore these issues in more detail, we conducted
two further case study inquiries on geo-engineering (Chapter 4)
and engineering in Government (Chapter 5). The terms of reference
for all four case studies can be found in Annex 2.
20. Following the completion of the case studies,
we held two wrap-up sessions, in which we attempted to broaden
out the inquiry again and check that our detailed analysis held
across a range of sectors (Chapter 6). In the time, and given
the subject, it was impossible to be comprehensive in our coverage.
However, we have tried to draw as many broad conclusions as possible
and hope that they find agreement across the full range of engineering
stakeholders.
21. During the course of this inquiry, the world
economy went into recession. The severity of the economic crisis
has made this subject all the more important as the international
community reassesses the foundations of economic health. The UK
Government has, like other nations, announced measures to protect
and support its manufacturing base (announcing a package of support
for the UK car industry potentially worth up to £2.3 billion,
for example). Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, has called for Government to
engage in 'industrial activism', and to develop, as core national
objectives, policies to improve the UK's skills base, national
infrastructure and regulatory stability. He added, with reference
to the role of engineering in relation to the recession, "For
the future, Britain needs an economy with less financial engineering
and more real engineering".[13]
1 Q 68 [Ev 732]: Several sequences of oral evidence
were taken during this inquiry (reflecting the case study approach).
For ease of reference we include the evidence page number alongside
the Q number. Back
2
Ev 169 [Engineering and Technology Board] Back
3
A Glossary is annexed to this Report. Back
4
Ev 169 Back
5
Q 474 [Ev 67] [Mr Pamenter] Back
6
Q 2 [Ev 721] [Professor Kelly] Back
7
Ev 186 Back
8
Guardian University Guide 2005 Back
9
Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) 2006/07 Back
10
Ev 788-790 Back
11
Q 78 [Ev 735] Back
12
Ev 792-799 Back
13
HL Deb, 27 January 2009, col 178 Back
