Memorandum submitted by Energy & Utility
Skills
INTRODUCTION
This response has been prepared by EU Skills
on behalf of the cross-sector Renewable Energy Skills Group. The
Renewable Energy Skills Group comprises AssetSkills, Cogent, ConstructionSkills,
ECITB, EU Skills, Lantra, SEMTA and SummitSkills. However, whereas
all SSC's/SSB's in the group are supportive of this response,
it does not necessarily reflect some of the wider sector specific
environmental matters or work being undertaken with a number of
Government departments. Some SSC's have therefore submitted additional
responses referencing these sector specific points.
SUMMARY
— Renewable energy is key to the UK's low-carbon
energy future. There is a need to radically reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, as well as diversify energy sources. It's about
energy security, becoming more competitive, and creating the economy
(and jobs) of the future.
— It is in this context that the sector-orientated
skilled workforces can make an impact and contribute not only
towards the UK and EU targets of 20% renewable energy by 2020,
but also support the economic recovery.
— Renewable energy technologies have the
potential to create a significant number of skilled jobs and to
diversify and extend many existing jobs. With often lengthy lead-times
to competence, a proactive investment in skills is needed.
— For employers and training providers
willing to invest, the opportunities relating to renewable energy
technologies are significant. However without a proactive approach
to skills investment, to ensure the UK can provide the skilled
workers that industry needs, these opportunities could migrate
overseas and the UK will fail to maximise employment opportunities.
— A strategic approach to meeting these
skills challenges is therefore required, with Government and industry
working together across the emerging sectors. There needs to be
joined up thinking with the various policies and funding mechanisms
both consistent and complementary.
— There also needs to be a better link
between policies derived at National Level and plans for implementation
drawn up at Regional Level. We recognise that co-ordinating across
the regions is more complex, but feel the strategic direction
being provided by the Devolved Nations will provide more coherent
and focused action and greater progress. This approach will also
mitigate against the duplication in funding that is a currnet
symptom of the regional, bottom up approach.
— There needs to be a clearer definition
of what we mean by "green jobs", what is in scope and
what is not. The Environmental agenda, incorporating Low Carbon,
Renewables and Energy Efficiency targets, needs to be treated
as mainstream across Government departments, both at national
and local level. Knowledge and experience should not be limited
to a small number of "experts" or specialised departments.
All have a part to play in addressing the environmental challenge.
— The Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and
Sector Skills Bodies (SSBs), recognising the need for collaborative
working have agreed a shared commitment to create a Renewable
Energy Skills Strategy. This skills strategy will provide a better
understanding of the future renewable energy skills requirements,
the increased training capacity required and the nature and timescales
of related job opportunities and up-skilling of existing workers,
whilst recognising the specific nature of some of the job requirements
in each of the sectors.
— In reality without this research and
a further programme of work to address the issues it will highlight,
it will be difficult for the UK to maximise employment opportunities
related to renewable energy technologies.
TACKLING THE
RECESSION AND
MAXIMISING EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
1. In the current economic climate most
employers are focused on today, rather than proactively thinking
about the potential skills needs for the future. There needs to
be some form of economic stimulus and/or Government directive
combined with reassurance that "policy" is or will be
turned into "effective demand", if skills investment
is to be boosted.
2. However, it is critical that the skills
agenda is industry led, as recommended by Lord Leitch in his 2006 report[1]
on the UK's future skills needs. To help employers understand
what they need to do, there is therefore a need to articulate
what the 2020 target means in reality ie short term achievable
targets, which together with a route-map will demonstrate that
the environmental agenda provides a sustainable future.
3. The time lag inherent in developing new
skills capacity, needs to be considered with the objective of
providing early visibility of requirements and helping employers
and the supply chain develop resources in a timely manner.
SKILLS BASE
4. Getting the right skills in the right
places, at the right time will be critical in delivering the 2020 renewable
energy target. For emerging technologies, determining the skills
requirements is especially challenging because there are uncertainties
about the exact nature of skills required, the timing and extent
of deployment, and, hence, when the skills will be needed.
5. The core skills of workers in the energy-related
sectors are highly transferable, being based on a thorough grounding
in technical competence. It is these sectors that, with additional
and specific modular based training, will need to provide many
of the skilled workers to support the deployment of renewable
energy technologies.
6. Recognising this we need to ensure the
UK has the appropriate number of skilled people in the conventional
energy-related sectors with transferable skills, to provide the
flexibility to accommodate the skills needs of emerging renewable
energy technologies.
7. In terms of potential barriers and constraints
it is important to consider the skills requirements of the whole
supply chain. For example, designing and manufacturing new technologies
is no use if there are insufficient skilled people to deploy and
maintain the plant.
8. As with research and development, the
investment in skills needs to be up-front to accommodate the often
lengthy lead times to competency. The production of competent,
skilled workers can take between five to 10 years from leaving
school. It is clear that if we don't proactively recruit and up-skill
workers, jobs will migrate overseas.
9. The interdependencies between the renewable
and conventional energy activities need to be considered. There
is certain to be major activity in, eg nuclear power engineering
and construction at the same time as investment in renewable plant
construction is required.
10. In addition, the energy-related sectors
face a major challenge in addressing the impact of an aging workforce,
due to the skewed age distribution. Losses to retirement will
increase sharply through the 2010s. The demand for skilled workers
is therefore rising at a time when retirement is set to take an
increasing toll and the labour pool is static, or even decreasing.
This is exacerbated by the skills demands to deliver substantial
grid upgrades and new infrastructure, including the offshore grid.
FLEXIBLE FUNDING
MECHANISMS THAT
PROVIDE CLEAR
UP -FRONT
INCENTIVES
11. We recognise that there is some Government
funding available, but this does not fully address the needs,
particularly for upskilling existing workers. Additionally, there
needs to be better signposting. Seen from outside, the training
landscape and funding structure is too complex for effective engagement
with all the stakeholders. Individual employers are confused in
terms of funding available, how to obtain the funding and routes
to training, leaving them unable to navigate the bureaucracy in
the system. There is a need to remove bureaucracy and simplify
funding mechanisms so that employers better understand the options
available.
12. This situation is further exacerbated,
for UK-wide employers, where the funding structure differs across
the devolved Nations. Employers and Sector Skills Organisations
are faced with multiple stakeholders and the frequent need, especially
in the regions, to pursue the same initiative many times over,
often with different results.
13. There needs to be a simpler approach,
with easy access routes developed, and services delivered through
structures that are clear to understand, even if they are complicated
inside.
14. A further barrier is that understandably
Governments need to see evidence of need before funding is provided,
but for emerging industries where skills investment is required
prior to jobs being available this is almost impossible to evidence.
15. We would specifically recommend that
Train to Gain (T2G) support (in England) should be better focused
on employer's needs and on modular qualifications. The current
performance of T2G in the energy-related sectors highlights how
the technical nature of the energy-related sectors means it is
difficult for brokers to understand requirements which results
in an ineffective interface with employers.
16. Funding should also focus on full job
competence rather than using qualifications as a proxy for skills.
This will help to increase the productivity of newly trained workers
quicker and restore employer confidence in the educational system.
T2G can be an effective mechanism to support the environmental
sector but requires a much more informed interface with employers
before this potential is realised.
INCREASED TRAINING
CAPACITY ACROSS
THE ENERGY
SECTOR
17. Traditional funding mechanisms are one
of the reasons why further education colleges and universities
are not fully meeting the needs of the energy-related sectors.
Too many educational institutions are focused on courses that
are easier and more cost effective to deliver, leaving the energy-related
sectors short of training places. Further education should be
more employer demand led, with funding focused on areas where
there are demonstrable skills shortages or gaps.
18. To support the required recruitment
and training the underlying capacity to train needs to be expanded.
In turn training providers need to develop their short, medium
and longer term investment plans to grow the capability and capacity
to deliver the required people and programmes. It is acknowledged
that that there are wide geographical variations in the quantity
and quality of renewables training provision in the UK.
19. Recognising that a major challenge in
increasing the number of apprentices and skilled workers is the
lack of training capacity across the UK, the energy sector require
ongoing support to its existing and proposed (Power) National
Skills Academies so that training capacity can be grown and the
capability of the workforce ensured for the long term.
ATTRACTING SUITABLY
QUALIFIED STUDENTS
INTO THE
ENERGY SECTOR
20. The energy-related sectors are predominantly
employers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) disciplines. Ensuring there are adequate numbers studying
STEM subjects at school and university is an imperative. We welcome
the Government initiatives to increase STEM education, but this
must be strengthened to enable a step change. Key targets should
be to increase the numbers of school leavers equipped to enter
apprenticeships and to improve the supply of graduates in critical
subjects.
21. Schools, rightly, promote university
to their pupils and pride themselves on the numbers of students
who move on to higher education. However, this is not the only
route into employment in the energy sectors. Other entry routes,
and their potential for those who take them, are less well promoted.
22. Opportunities need to be better articulated
through career advice. This means also that significant changes
in school culture are needed to encourage young people in to the
sector. Teachers/careers advisors need to give guidance on both
academic and vocational routes into work with equal vigour.
IMPACT OF
THE RECESSION
23. It is still unclear the extent to which
environmental goals are taking a back seat due to the current
economic climate. On one side, meeting the 2020 targets and
rising fossil fuel costs are making renewable energy more appealing.
Conversely the need to reduce expenditure and rising energy costs
are creating pressure to consider the cost of renewable energy
technologies—and its impact on the fuel poor in particular.
24. It is recognised that within some sectors,
renewables will offer significant potential for new jobs, however
as most renewable infrastructure assets are project financed,
the freeze in lending between banks may delay or prevent these
projects proceeding. This in turn will reduce or delay the creation
of new employment opportunities.
CLARITY ACROSS
NATIONAL/REGIONAL
THINKING
25. Across the Nations and Regions there
is a considerable amount of work being undertaken in support of
the environmental agenda. For employers and SSC/SSB it is difficult
to meet the differing requirements of these individual initiatives.
This work would be more effective if there was a stronger more
strategic lead centrally, to ensure a more cohesive approach and
better clarity over how initiatives support National Policies
and targets.
26. We recognise that the regions are more
complex, but believe the stronger lead taken by the Devolved Nations
is resulting in a more effective implementation and clarity over
skills delivery.
SSC COLLABORATION
27. The range of renewable energy sources
and technologies is diverse and complex spanning a number of Sector
Skills Councils and Sector Bodies. Recognising the need for collaborative
working the respective Chief Executives[2]
have agreed a shared commitment to create a Renewable Energy Skills
Strategy. Working in this way fully utilises the sector specific
knowledge and experience, whilst at the same time providing a
single interface for renewable energy skills-related issues.
28. A cross-sector Renewable Energy Project
Group has been formed and a Skills Action Plan developed. The
plan outlines the steps required, methodology and outcomes, to
develop the Renewable Energy Skills Strategy. The project is adopting
a process that mirrors the proven mechanism for developing a Sector
Skills Agreement (SSA), to provide a robust framework and give
confidence to the research. The process will include:
(i) Assessment of current & future skills
needs—skills analysis.
(ii) Mapping quality and availability of training
provision—supply side analysis.
(iii) Gap Analysis of training requirements and
training provision.
(iv) Development of practical, workable and cost
effective solutions to address identified needs.
(v) Action plans to tackle the short, medium
and long term priority skills issues.
29. The aim of the proposed Renewable Energy
Skills Strategy is to take account of the requirements across
the supply chain from initial research, to installation and maintenance
and disposal at the end of life. Consideration will also be given
to both large scale technologies and micro-generation. By using
processes aligned to those used for SSA development, it will be
possible to build upon the work already undertaken to produce
SSAs avoiding duplication. Although the solutions for different
parts of the sector may vary, bringing the work together in this
way will ensure consideration is given to the whole supply chain
and that all are working to the same targets.
30. The Renewable Energy Skills Strategy
will provide a better understanding of the future renewable energy
technology skills requirements, the increased training capacity
required and the nature and timescales of job opportunities in
the energy-related sectors. In reality without this piece of work
and the accompanying action plan, it will be difficult for the
UK to maximise employment opportunities in the energy-related
industries.
31. All of the organisations in the cross-sector
Renewable Energy Project Group recognise and have agreed to contribute
resource in support of the deliverables identified in the Skills
Action Plan. However, to provide the appropriate focus and support
the additional research requirements, it is recognised that dedicated
project management and research resources will be required. The
total cost of this additional resource is estimated to be £150k.
32. Despite ongoing discussions with a number
of Government departments it has not been possible to secure the
necessary funding. Work is still progressing, but not at the pace
needed to fully answer questions in this inquiry and inform the
wider environmental debate.
33. Developing the skills strategy is the
first step, it will identify clear actions that are required to
support the renewable energy skills agenda. However, the real
value of the collaboration will be in the next phase—developing
and implementing cross-sector solutions to address the skills
issues. When considering support and funding for phase 1, it is
important to recognise there will be an ongoing requirement to
resource the project and ensure that it can progress from research
to implementation without a time delay whilst funding is sought.
June 2009
1 Leitch Review of Skills, Prosperity for all in the
global economy-world class skills. Published 5th December 2006 Back
2
AssetSkills, Cogent, ConstructionSkills, ECITB, EU Skills, Lantra,
SEMTA and SummitSkills Back
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