Memorandum 12
Submission from the National Grid
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- National Grid recognises that approximately
40% of our workforce will reach retirement age over the next 10-15
years. We face a challenge to attract, recruit and retain engineering
talent at the NVQ level and beyond, in order to ensure continuity
of our business operations, and to facilitate future innovation
in the engineering sector.
- Through National Grid's e-futures strategy,
we organise and sponsor educational initiatives to increase
the number and diversity of young people interested in engineering
careers. Over the past four years, well over 15,000 young people
have taken part.
- We also support young engineers through
organisations such as the Power Academy who organise a
programme in partnership with the Institute of Engineering and
Technology for the provision of financial support for students
studying Electrical and Power Engineering degrees at university
in order to develop future talent in the engineering sector.
- National Grid sponsors and supports the
high voltage centre at the University of Manchester. The centre
itself includes five laboratories, a postgraduate research area
and lecture room. Through our sponsorship of the centre we work
collaboratively with students to develop knowledge and innovation,
as well as investing our time and resources in developing future
engineering talent.
NATIONAL GRID-WHO
ARE WE?
1. National Grid plc owns and operates the
high voltage electricity transmission system in England and Wales,
and operates the Scottish high voltage electricity transmission
system. National Grid also owns and operates the gas transmission
system in Great Britain and distributes gas in the heart of England,
to approximately 11 million offices, schools and homes. In addition
National Grid manages electricity and gas assets in the US, where
we are the second largest utility through our operations in the
states of New England and New York.
2. Through our regulated and non-regulated
subsidiaries, National Grid also owns and maintains around 20
million domestic and commercial meters, the electricity Interconnector
between England and France, and a Liquid Natural Gas importation
terminal at the Isle of Grain.
3. National Grid is pleased to have the
opportunity to contribute to this inquiry and our submission will
focus on our perspective of engineering and skills.
ROLE OF
ENGINEERS IN
OUR OPERATIONS
4. National Grid recognises that approximately
40% of our workforce will reach retirement age over the next 10-15
years. We face a challenge to attract, recruit and retain engineering
talent at the NVQ level and beyond, in order to ensure continuity
of our business operations, and to facilitate future innovation
in the engineering sector.
5. The skills of National Grid employees
are at the heart of our success in reaching world class safety
and operating and financial performance. Many of our organisation's
roles are complex, requiring a wide range and depth of skills-for
example we require commercial expertise in order to forecast supply
and demand of gas and electricity; engineering apprentices to
build and maintain overhead powerlines and gas pipelines; finance
graduates to manage accounts and a range of other skills and expertise
in IT, Safety, and Supply Chain Management.
PROMOTION OF
ENGINEERING AND
STEM SUBJECTS IN
SCHOOLS AND
COLLEGES
6. National Grid aims to promote Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects encouraging
students at age 8 and beyond to take up qualifications in these
areas.
7. Through National Grid's e-futures
strategy, we organise and sponsor educational initiatives
to increase the number and diversity of young people interested
in engineering careers. Over the past four years, well over 15,000
young people have taken part.
8. National Grid graduates develop and run
exhibits at Imagineering Shows designed to showcase science,
technology, engineering and maths experiences aimed at 8-16 year
olds. In addition more than 40 of our National Grid engineers
serve as volunteers at after school clubs for youngsters through
Imagineering Clubs.
9. To date, National Grid has financially
supported the establishment of four engineering specialist
schools and supports the Engineering Education Scheme,
a six-month project aimed at post 16 students in a Midlands
based school.
10. In addition we sponsor Headstart,
a series of 22 university-based courses which are targeted
at 16-17 year-olds who are interested in mathematics or science,
exposing them to technology-based careers.
ENGINEERING PLACEMENTS
AT NATIONAL
GRID
11. In addition to investing in encouraging
STEM subjects with 8-16 year olds in the communities in which
we operate, National Grid also provides students with opportunities
to gain practical experience in our business. We offer Year
in Industry, and Industrial Placements, in which university
students (typically in their third year) join National Grid for
12 months, working full time in one of our business units.
12. In the US we have recently launched
a University Relations Program, working with eleven higher
education institutions to promote engineering and National Grid
as an employer of choice.
TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
NATIONAL GRID
ENGINEERING TALENT
13. We take the training and development
of our staff seriously, upgrading their skill sets, developing
competencies and ensuring that we meet future engineering skills
shortages through training.
14. Our Advanced Apprenticeship scheme ranks
as one of the top 10 schemes offered by employers in Britain (This
equates to a Level 3 qualification). A range of various Apprenticeships
are offered by National Grid some taking between 24-36 months
all of which contain substantial elements of on the job training.
In 2007 National Grid appointed 88 apprentices but at any one
time National Grid has up to 200 Apprentices training and studying
to gain qualifications.
15. At our award-winning UK training centre
at Eakring we specialise in technical training, offering approximately
50,000 training days per annum primarily in electricity and gas
systems, Technical Apprenticeships and safety.
16. Two new Skills Development Centres are
currently being constructed by our Gas distribution business to
address the acute skills shortage in gas operations. They will
augment the existing facilities available at National Grid and
come online in summer 2008. The main focus of the new Skills Development
Centres is to train new apprentices and to build manager capability
and develop the competencies of our workforce.
NATIONAL GRID
ENGAGEMENT ON
RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT & SPONSORSHIP
OF ENGINEERS
IN HIGHER
EDUCATION
17. National Grid is undertaking research
to find innovative ways to prepare for, and tackle, the effects
of climate change on National Grid's assets. We are on target
to deliver a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from our
operations and offices across the company well before 2050. R&D
solutions are also being developed to improve the efficiency and
reliability of our electricity and gas systems and to facilitate
the connection of new generation sources.
18. Across National Grid's gas and electricity
business in the UK and US, we spend £23 million a year on
funding R&D activity.
19. Much of the R&D we are engaged in
is through sponsorships of university research. An example is
our sponsorship of the National Grid high voltage Research Centre
at the University of Manchester. Here, experts from National Grid
and the University of Manchester carry out research to develop
new technology solutions to increase the reliability, security
and efficiency of high-voltage equipment. The centre itself includes
five laboratories, a postgraduate research area and lecture room.
Equipment includes National Grid's 2MV (two million volt) impulse
generator, able to simulate lightning strikes. National Grid also
has strategic partnerships and sponsorship programmes at the universities
of Southampton, Strathclyde, and Cardiff.
20. Through our sponsorship of R&D we
work collaboratively with students to develop knowledge and innovative
solutions, as well as investing time and resources in developing
future engineering talent.
21. National Grid notes the concerns of
the Committee on the issue of engineering skills and the necessary
R&D base needed to underpin the development of future skills,
and new energy technologies. We have for many years played an
active role in the policy debate on R&D and contributed to
Government and Industry working groups at a high level in order
to seek solutions to some of the issues we face in the UK.
22. We support young engineers through organisations
such as the Power Academy who organise a programme in partnership
with the Institute of Engineering and Technology for the provision
of financial support for students studying Electrical and Power
Engineering degrees at university in order to develop future talent
in the engineering sector.
CONCLUSIONS
23. Our written evidence to this inquiry
hopefully highlights the issues we face as the largest utility
in the UK, and has set out the way in which National Grid is working
to address the engineering skills shortages we face as an organisation.
24. We have a challenge to recruit and retain
a skilled workforce. With the dual issues of ensuring security
of supply and tackling climate change we-as an organisation-face
a challenge to create that future through our people.
25. National Grid welcomes recent Government
announcements on engineering apprenticeships and we hope that
as a result of this, and other initiatives that there will be
greater opportunity for the promotion of STEM subjects in schools
in the classroom and through careers advice.
26. We hope that this submission is helpful
to the Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee inquiry
on Engineering.
March 2008
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