Memorandum 63
Submission from ACE (Association for Consultancy
and Engineering)
ENGINEERING SKILLS-A
BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
Introduction
1. The Association for Consultancy and Engineering
(ACE) welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the committee.
Given the inquiry's engineering skills remit, this submission
will focus on why the supply of highly-skilled engineers in the
UK is diminishing, what effect this is having on UK engineering
companies and what can be done to reverse this trend.
2. ACE regularly carries out industry surveys,
producing annual State of Business reports, as well as a recent
Skills Shortages and Recruitment Agency Behaviours survey
which analysed exactly how acute the engineering skills shortages
are in the UK. This submission draws heavily on these surveys.
3. Also included here is a statement from
Stephen Bailey, from ACE member firm Grontmij, who provide engineering
expertise to a range of clients across the water, energy, systems,
building, environment and transportation industries and are experts
in nuclear decommissioning, on the issue of engineering in the
nuclear power sector.
4. ACE believes this inquiry must have at
its heart an understanding of the needs of the companies who employ
the engineers themselves. Whilst UK firms are world leaders in
engineering innovation at present, the lack of sufficient numbers
of engineers threatens this position. Providing a highly skilled
pool of qualified professionals to meet the present and future
demands of UK engineering firms must be a fundamental aim.
5. ACE represents the business interests
of the consultancy and engineering industry in the UK. We are
the leading business association in this field, counting around
800 firms-large and small, operating across many disciplines-as
our members, with a combined turnover of approximately £4.5
billion and employing about 75,000 staff.
6. We believe our participation in this
inquiry is critical. In advance of what we hope will be an invitation
to give oral evidence to the committee, we trust the information
provided and ideas advanced below will aid in your inquiry.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The challenge
7. Domestic demand for consultancy and engineering
services is outstripping the supply of highly-skilled engineers.
Consultancy and engineering firms, while undoubtedly enjoying
a period of sustained growth, are finding it increasingly difficult
to attract the staff needed to complete their work programmes.
8. A recent ACE industry study, Skills
Shortages and Recruitment Agency Behaviours, revealed that
there are at present 20,000 unfilled vacancies in the consultancy
and engineering sector. This astonishing figure is the manifestation
of a far deeper crisis affecting engineering as a skill in the
UK.
9. Compounding this is the constant process
of osmosis away from the engineering profession. The number of
engineering graduates entering the construction industry is falling,
graduates preferring subjects such as finance, economics, law
and business that lead into careers with higher earning-potential
and prestige.
10. Of those that do study engineering,
many decide upon graduation not to enter the engineering profession-their
problem solving and numerical skills being highly attractive to
financial organisations and other businesses. Many of those that
begin a career in engineering do not remain in the profession
for their entire working life, again being attracted to other
careers.
11. This process is exacerbated by the lack
of professional recognition of engineers in society, which contributes
to comparatively low earning potential. Unless a significant shift
is made at every level, from how engineering is communicated to
schoolchildren and the wider public through to in-house professional
development opportunities for experienced engineers and changes
to work permit regulations, engineering skills will continue to
diminish in the UK.
The solution
12. Engineers are essential to the health
of UK society and its economy and a comprehensive solution needs
to be found. ACE believes this is only possible through government,
parliament and all industry representatives working as one to
design and implement a comprehensive strategy.
13. ACE is recommending a multi-layered
approach as the only solution that will meet present demands whilst
also securing a sufficient engineering skills base for the future.
This approach consists of:
- Increased investment in developing engineering
as a subject and career of choice, including government- and industry-backed
financial incentives for engineering students and for graduates
who remain in the industry post-qualification. These could include
tuition fee waivers. The aim should be for the UK to be self-sufficient
in engineers in the long-term.
- Relaxing of work-permit controls for non-EU
engineers, especially the extension of the national shortage occupation
list to include civil, structural, building services, mechanical
and electrical engineering disciplines, sectors which UK engineering
firms have highlighted as having a significant shortage. This
is a short to medium term solution, planned to ensure sufficient
engineering talent exists in the UK whilst other initiatives are
developing home-grown engineers.
- Grandstanding and building upon the efforts
being made in the engineering community to increase diversity
in the industry, making an engineering career a more attractive
option for under-represented groups.
- Co-operation between industry and government
to better communicate the true value of engineering to the UK's
economy and society, providing suitably qualified practitioners
with the same levels of professional respect as is afforded doctors,
lawyers and accountants, raising the value of engineering services
into line with these comparable professional services.
14. From ACE's experiences in this area,
the above is not a wish-list but an essential and achievable plan
of action. ACE is working closely with government and other industry
representatives to bring these actions into being, but as time
passes the urgency for change increases dramatically. ACE warmly
welcomes this inquiry and fully supports the efforts of the innovation,
universities and skills committee to tackle this complex issue.
NUMBERS OF
ENGINEERS DECREASING
AS WORKLOAD
INCREASES
15. ACE's recent Skills Shortages and
Recruitment Agency Behaviours survey found that there are
currently 20,000 unfilled jobs in the consultancy and engineering
sector. Given that there are around 150,000 staff in the industry,
this translates to 13% of all current jobs.
16. This survey also found that 24,000 professional
vacancies are expected to be needed to be filled in the next 12
months.
17. ACE's 2007 State of Business Report
found that the majority of consultancy and engineering firms
expect to see significant growth in the demand for consultancy
and engineering services in the coming years. The UK's future
work programme includes:
- New build in the City of London, including
the Shard of Glass, Heron Tower, The Pinnacle, The Cheese Grater
and The Walkie Talkie, these five buildings alone having a combined
projected cost of well over £2.5 billion.
- The £45 billion Building Schools for
the Future programme.
- Plans for an additional 240,000 homes per
year across the UK up to 2016.
- Repairing, updating and expanding the UK's
transport networks, including rail, road, airports and ports.
- New nuclear power stations, decommissioning
of existing nuclear power facilities and nuclear waste disposal.
- Development of the UK's general energy
generation infrastructure, including renewable energy projects.
- Mitigation of the effects of climate change,
especially building of flood defences.
18. ACE's 2007 State of Business Report
found respondents are also expecting increased global demand
for consultancy and engineering services, especially in the Middle
East, India and China. Whilst many of the engineers working for
UK companies in these countries are indigenous, many others are
expatriates from the UK, resulting in a reduction of the UK's
skills base.
MAKING ENGINEERING
A SUBJECT
OF CHOICE
19. ACE believes financial incentives to
attract university students onto engineering courses will be necessary.
Tuition fees for engineering subjects should be waived. ACE is
in the process of internally agreeing proposals for exactly how
these incentives should be structured but we will be happy to
provide the committee with these at a later date.
20. ACE is committed to increasing the number
of engineering students going into universities and graduates
beginning engineering careers. To this end ACE will look at establishing
a web-based resource of scholarships and graduate schemes offered
by member firms to make the process of matching the right person
with the right career easier.
21. The UK should aim to be self-sufficient
in engineers, producing enough graduates from its own education
system to fill all vacancies in UK engineering firms. The example
of healthcare professionals is instructive. On 6 February the
Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson stated that from 2009
only doctors graduated from UK or EU medical schools will be able
to apply for training jobs:
"Doctors from overseas have played an invaluable
role in the NHS for many years and will continue to do so. They
have helped us fill key skill-shortage areas such as psychiatry,
obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics. But as the number of
UK medical school graduates expands, there should be less need
to rely on overseas doctors for these specialties".
22. This is a position the National Health
Service has reached after 50 years of reliance on doctors from
non-EU countries, particularly India and Pakistan. It is only
now, after great investment in the UK's medical schools that we
can realistically talk of self-sufficiency in this profession.
Engineering should both heed this warning and follow this example.
Government needs to increase investment in the provision of high-quality
engineering education.
23. Whilst at present the number of UK engineering
undergraduates is remaining static, the numbers of non-EU students
is increasing, effectively reducing the size of the UK pool.
24. The education system needs significant
investment to ensure the supply of UK engineering graduates increases,
especially to ensure more pupils studying A-Levels in physics
and mathematics-the gateway subjects to engineering.
25. The example of teaching is also instructive.
"Golden hellos", offered to teachers 12 months after
competing their induction year of between £2,500 and £5,000,
are paid to incentivise a teaching career.
FILLING THE
ENGINEERING GAP
NOW-WORK
PERMITS
26. ACE believes that civil, structural,
building services, mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines
must be added to the government's national shortages occupation
list as soon as possible.
27. There will be a time-lag between putting
in place the changes to the education system and increased numbers
of engineers being produced by the education system. The skills
shortages already exist, so a short to medium term solution is
required. ACE believes the only way to meet this immediate demand
is to increase the numbers of engineering disciplines which are
included on the UK's national shortage occupation list, making
it easier for UK firms to hire high-calibre engineers from non-EU
countries.
28. ACE's Skills Shortages and Recruitment
Agency Behaviours survey found that, already, a significant proportion
of fee-earning staff in the firms surveyed hold work permits.
Of the total number of civil engineers working in the UK, 24%
have been recruited from overseas. For structural engineers this
figure increases to 27%. Overall, 88% of companies recruit non-UK
nationals to fee-earning posts at present.
29. 14% of the total number of civil engineering
roles is currently unfilled. This compares to 15% for electrical
engineering, 12% for mechanical engineering and 11% for both structural
and building services engineering. These are large numbers, overall
equating to 20,000 current vacancies in the industry. As noted
above, this is set to increase year on year.
INCREASING DIVERSITY
30. ACE believes that the diversity within
the engineering sector needs to be improved and is dedicated to
working towards this end.
31. ACE is currently carrying out a survey
into the diversity of the workforce in the consultancy and engineering
industry. This is in response to government calls for more exact
measurement of diversity within the sector. ACE will provide the
committee with the results of its survey when they are available.
32. Relaxation of the work permits national
shortage occupation list for engineers will also improve the diversity
within the engineering industry.
PERCEPTIONS OF
ENGINEERING
33. ACE believes the long-standing failure
of government to protect the status of the professional title
of "engineer" has diluted and damaged the UK's engineering
heritage. With the term now used by a wide range of semi-skilled
trades the attractiveness of engineering as a career choice has
lessened, the image and recognition on offer in other professions
catching the imagination of those beginning university.
34. ACE believes that government needs to
visibly show its support for professional engineers and to acknowledge
the importance of these engineers to the UK economy. The public
perception of engineers is at odds with that in other countries,
which is partly a result of the higher levels of protection and
recognition given in these countries-in Europe the title "engineer"
carries the same weight as that of Dr.
35. Such visible support could come in the
form of an advice note sent to all public sector clients, especially
their media departments, from the Prime Minister, the Department
for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), plus the
sponsoring department calling for increased media attention to
be given to the work of engineers in the construction process.
36. As a key part of the strategy to solve
the engineering skills shortages crisis, ACE believes the government
should be working closely with industry to improve the image and
standing of engineers in UK society. Whilst the other recommendations
outlined here deal with the micro-level, the broader need to develop
and highlight the professional status of engineers is imperative.
This is a "soft" approach as opposed to the more direct
actions outlined above, and would have no cost to the taxpayer.
ENGINEERING CASE
STUDY: NUCLEAR
ENGINEERING
Stephen Bailey-Operations Director, Grontmij
37. I am an engineer by background and now
work with engineering and environmental consultancy and ACE member
firm Grontmij. Grontmij is working with the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority (NDA) and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), providing
a complete range of engineering services civil, process, mechanical
and electrical, to help support the clean up of nuclear waste.
38. I began my career in engineering in
the 1980s with the strong belief that I was embarking upon a career
rather than just taking on a job. Over time I became frustrated
by the poor training and mentoring offered to me. I felt my creative
and innovative skill sets-the core skills on which engineering
is founded-were not being developed as they should be.[235]
I became disillusioned with my chosen career path and made the
difficult choice to transfer to the corporate finance sector where
more appeared to be on offer.
39. Whilst the financial rewards were significantly
greater there, after a time I began to doubt the move I had made.
Happily, I was offered the opportunity to move back into engineering,
where I worked with individuals who allowed me to develop my skills
in ways that were not offered in my formative years.
40. I now take a great deal of pride in
my belief that engineering is a career and not just a job. I advocate
the importance of making a difference, and engineering allows
you to do this both for the present and for the future. This is
especially true for nuclear engineering, where the effects will
be felt hundreds of years from now.
41. The UK has the engineering capacity
to build both a new generation of nuclear power stations, irrespective
of the source of particular technology,[236]
and deal with waste arising from designing with decommissioning
in mind (the end state).
42. This capacity is defined not by the
pool of available expert nuclear engineers, but by the total number
of engineers working in the UK. Nuclear engineering should be
defined as the application of core skills in civil and structural
and mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines into the
nuclear industry.
43. For example, the Dragon and SGHWR nuclear
reactors at UKAEA's Winfrith site were both experimental reactors,
never intended for commercial use. The information available on
these reactors is much less than would be expected for a commercial
reactor. The key engineering skills required here are problem-solving
and developing innovative ideas for decommissioning to overcome
this lack of information. In my own engineering training it was
the understanding of fundamental engineering principles, problem-solving
skills and the ability to think creatively that has underpinned
all of my work.
44. This committee should concentrate on
the broader engineering skills issues as are outlined in ACE's
main statement. The recommendations outlined, when taken together,
will increase the size of the UK's engineering pool, and therefore
increase the number of potential engineers available to design,
build and decommission our nuclear power stations of the future.
March 2008
235 I now realise that the conditions I experienced
when I began my career are not those experienced by engineers
today, who are offered excellent in-house training and personal
development programmes. Back
236
The availability of the necessary components for these facilities
will be the major factor if the UK fails to meet its nuclear power
building programme, for example the number of reactor manufacturers
is in very short supply when compared to the huge and growing
demand for reactors across the world. Back
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