Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by the Environment Agency
1 Summary
1.1 The Environment Agency welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this Inquiry. We rely on engineers to provide a broad range of outcomes including flood and coastal risk management and the regulation of nuclear sites in England and Wales. We employ mainly civil engineers, but also electrical, chemical, mechanical and other engineers, both directly and through consultants and contractors.
1.2 The Flood and Water Management Act (FWMA) 2010 established new roles and responsibilities for the Environment Agency, Local Authorities and others involved in flood and coastal risk management. The Environment Agency has been working with Defra, Welsh Government, Lead Local Flood Risk Authorities and other risk management authorities to understand the skills and capacity that will be required to implement the FWMA, including managing flood risk from all sources.
1.3 We have established a successful River and Coastal Engineering Foundation Degree and provide a structured development Programme for graduate engineers. We have provided training to 174 Local Authorities through over 70 workshops on the FWMA.
1.4 We are mindful that when the economy improves there may be consequences for staff retention and our technical resilience. The recent resurgence of the nuclear sector has had a marked impact on our ability to recruit experienced staff. We have addressed this though a strategic workforce plan which is addressing measures to recruit staff from a wider range of backgrounds, as well as measures to improve staff retention.
1.5 The Environment Agency has various Statutory Duties. For example the Reservoirs Act 1975 exists to ensure that large raised reservoirs are safely constructed and maintained to prevent dam and reservoir failures, and the catastrophic flooding that could result. The Act requires the Undertaker (owner and operator) of a large raised reservoir to employ a qualified civil engineer (QCE). The Defra Secretary of State appoints QCEs to certain engineering panels, following an application and interview process managed by the Institution of Civil Engineers. The main two panels are the Inspecting Engineers (IE) and Supervising Engineers (SE).
1.6 In the UK, there are currently 42 Inspecting Engineers and 164 Supervising Engineers. We estimate that a core of 40 Inspecting Engineers and up to 300 Supervising Engineers are needed. The number of Supervising Engineers has dropped from 400 in 1987 (following the implementation of the Reservoirs Act 1975) to 164. Although there are now more opportunities for potential Supervising Engineers to gain the necessary experience, many employers (especially large, foreign-owned consultancies) see reservoir work as being high risk and low return. The age profile of these specialists is of concern as the majority of QCEs are over 55 years of age. The geographical distribution of QCEs also limits the availability of these engineers in some areas.
2 The Environment Agency
2.1 The Environment Agency was set up under the Environment Act 1995 and is the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. We employ around 11,500 people and have an annual budget of about £1.1 billion.
2.2 One of our roles is to protect people, property and the environment from flooding in accordance with overall policy and funding agreed with Defra and/or the Welsh Government. Our work includes the provision, maintenance and operation of inland and coastal flood defences, which range from earthen floodbanks to complex engineering structures like the Thames Barrier. We have been given a strategic overview role for flood and coastal risk. We are reliant upon the services of engineers within the Environment Agency, and also the consultant and contracting industries that we employ.
2.3 Another of our roles related to engineering is in our regulation of nuclear sites. Our assessors and regulators include graduate engineers and scientists from a variety of disciplines (eg chemical, mechanical and nuclear). They play an important role in ensuring that the environmental impacts from nuclear facilities are minimised and that radioactive waste is safely disposed of. In addition to existing sites we have been working with the Office for Nuclear Regulation on the assessment of new reactor designs.
3. Information For The Committee
3.1 Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers?
3.1.1 The Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities, Internal Drainage Boards and other organisations within the flood risk management sector currently draw their engineering skills from a broad range of development routes. These include civil, mechanical, electrical, structural and drainage engineering.
3.1.2 Since 2004 the Environment Agency has developed a suite of further education courses in river and coastal engineering in partnership with the University of West of England. This programme of bespoke further education courses was developed to ensure resilience in key technical posts which were difficult to recruit to through conventional recruitment activities.
3.1.3 Access to these courses was extended to Lead Local Flood Authorities in 2009 through the Defra Capacity Building Strategy to address capacity issues arising from the introduction of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Each LLFA which benefits from the programme contributes funding towards the costs of a trainee. The core programme is funded by a Defra grant.
3.1.4 There are three further education courses in the current programme:
Foundation Degree (FdSc)—Two years full time for students;
BSc “top-up” course building on the FdSc to provide a BSc level qualification (three years part time for existing employees);
Graduate Diploma aimed at numerate graduates with a non-engineering degree to acquire technical knowledge and skills required in flood and coastal risk management (four years part time for existing employees).
3.1.5 The Foundation Degree has produced 126 graduates between 2004 and 2011 for the Environment Agency. Since it was made available to LLFAs there have been a further 19 trainees who have graduated and joined local authorities. Within the next two years a total of 65 students are due to graduate, 50 working within LLFAs and 15 within the Environment Agency. Over 70% of the graduates having gained employment within the Environment Agency or LLFAs.
3.2 Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or a vocational profile?
Flood Risk Management
3.2.1 The Environment Agency requires both backgrounds depending on the type of jobs needed to achieve our objectives. At the entry level for technician engineers we have had most success adopting a work-based learning approach supported by local mentors integrated with a university delivered academic course. This has resulted in graduates “ready to work”, easier transition to employment, lower drop out rates than comparable university courses and high retention rates following graduation.
3.2.2 At the conventional university intake level for engineering graduates the Environment Agency runs structured professional development schemes, accredited by either the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) or the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). The Environment Agency has doubled the number of professional engineers we employ in key flood and coastal risk management posts from 76 in 2005 to 152 in 2011.
3.2.3 As part of their professional development, recruits from both the academic and vocational routes are encouraged to take up the role of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ambassador for a period of time, to work with local schools to encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists.
Nuclear
3.2.4 In our nuclear work we use staff from an academic background. We have responded to the shortage of engineers and other technical staff we need for nuclear regulation by diversifying our recruitment activity. Traditionally we recruited experienced staff directly from the nuclear industry but we now:
recruit some regulators from other regulatory disciplines, developing their nuclear expertise in house;
contribute to bursaries and provide placements to students through Viridian Partnership’s Empower scheme (which provides MSc students with exposure to the Nuclear Sector through research project placements, lecture days, visits and networking opportunities); and
sponsor students through the nuclear industry’s “nuclear graduates” scheme.
June 2012