Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by Prospect

Introduction

1. Prospect is a trade union representing 120,000 scientific, technical, managerial and specialist staff in the Civil Service and related bodies and major companies. Prospect is the largest union for professional engineers, with significant membership in the energy, transport and defence sectors as well as in central government. Each of these sectors is currently facing different investment and skills scenarios, though there are also some common experiences and challenges.

Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers? Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or vocational qualification?

2. Although anecdotal, feedback from Prospect’s membership suggests that there are challenges in some—but not all—engineering sectors. This may in part be due to the focus in recent years on management and operation of facilities rather than demand for new projects. Looking ahead, there are broader concerns about the skills pipeline.

3. Our sense is that the ideal qualification profile is still a blend of academic and vocational, delivered either through graduate recruitment schemes or via apprenticeships that provide progression pathways. Both routes have come under pressure due to budgetary constraints, and we are aware that for SMEs in particular apprenticeships can appear challenging to operate. Initiatives such as the Talent Retention Solution1 provide a useful resource, with potential for further development. New Higher Apprenticeship frameworks should also help to dilute the silo mentality between academic and vocational routes providing that they can be developed on a sustainable basis.

What impact will recent changes to engineering qualifications in England have on the uptake of technical subjects and the skills base needed by the engineering sector?

4. A worrying factor emerging from our enquiries is the apparent lack of awareness of recent changes, suggesting that companies may not be well-prepared to deal with the consequences.

How do the approaches taken by the Devolved Administrations to produce a technically skilled workforce differ to the current approach in England? What are the strengths/weaknesses of different approaches?

5. We would suggest that an assessment should be made of the relative strengths and weaknesses arising from the operation of multiple engineering skills bodies, locally and nationally. On one hand it could be counter-productive to constrain specialist or local activity, particularly where this meets a real need. On the other hand, the existence of overlapping organisations can make it difficult even for large companies to make best use of what is available or even to understand what is most relevant to their business. It could be helpful for a body such as Engineering UK or the appropriate Sector Skills Council to play a stronger co-ordinating role. There is also scope for the UK Government and Devolved Administrations to lead more directly through their own procurement arrangements.

Could the Government and others do more to raise the status of technical subjects?

6. More could certainly be done to raise the status of technical subjects, though it should be noted that not all technical subjects suffer in this way. There is a related issue of how and where students choose to deploy their technical knowledge, and it is the case that some employment sectors do have challenges to address regarding their image. Also, as discussed below, there are longstanding challenges relating to gender segregation and under-representation of BME communities in engineering.

7. However, we do also think that this is an area in which key individuals can have a positive influence. Much has been made of the importance of celebrity role models—the so-called Brian Cox effect. Undoubtedly high profile role models are important, but it is striking that a recent Prospect survey completed by 2,000 our female members working in science and engineering showed that 26% had been inspired in their subject choice by teachers and 17% by a relative. This underlines the need for support and information to be targeted to these groups.

8. Similarly trade union members and representatives can play an important role, both locally and nationally. For example, Prospect has developed a World Skills UK environmental science competition to raise awareness of and encourage the development of excellence in a range of disciplines that contribute to mitigating climate change. Many Union Learning Reps engage beyond the workplace and into their communities and UnionLearn is working to promote wider access to good quality apprenticeships.

What more could be done to attract and retain a more diverse technically skilled workforce?

9. Women’s under-representation in engineering is not a recent problem but, despite some slow progress in recent years, it remains pervasive. These issues have been explored extensively elsewhere2, but our most recent survey identifies four main reasons why women are currently leaving science and engineering:

Family reasons—The difficulties faced by women in juggling a scientific or engineering career with raising children, including the cost of childcare. Lack of progression for part-time workers is key issue.

Not happy in role or field—Our survey identified frustrations both over the professional development of work, including lack of vision/strategy and an overwhelming focus on efficiency savings, and the workplace environment—with comments like “It is exhausting working in a world of men”.

Funding/redundancy—Potential or actual redundancy or outsourcing is currently a major concern in the public sector. Issues of uncertainty of funding or contract renewal figure particularly strongly in the university and wider academic sectors.

Career development—This includes women making positive choices to enter managerial roles (though this raises a broader issue of why engineers and scientists are expected to jettison their specialist expertise to achieve career advancement). Equally, it includes a sizeable group who move due to lack of career development opportunities in their professional role.

10. At the very least, these responses challenge established career progression models and suggest that prioritising action to address the loss of value from failure to effectively use the skills and potential of part-time employees would reap immediate benefits to business.

June 2012