Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by The Engineering and Machinery Alliance (eama)
The Engineering and Machinery Alliance represents circa 1,700 firms from 12 different trade associations (please see the masthead), mostly SMEs in the mechanical engineering sector with sales of some £8.5 billion.
They account for a quarter of the UK’s mechanical engineering output, and according to HM Customs’ data, sector exports account for about 70% of sector sales.
Typically, our companies supply ‘enabling technologies’ to other sectors (eg automotive, aerospace, medical, power, printing and food industries) in the form of machinery or packages combining services and products.
1. Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers? Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or a vocational profile?
The industry has a problematic skills profile because of the decline in the numbers of new entrants over the last three decades.
In a recent EAMA survey, skills were rated the second most important issue after finding new customers —just as they were in 2007 before the economic downturn. Forty-two per cent of firms said they don’t expect to recruit new full time staff with the skills they are missing. Ninety-five per cent said they will have to train existing staff or apprentices to fill those gaps.
Anecdotally we hear how a lack of skilled workers is stopping many firms expanding their business. So the base isn’t meeting employers’ needs. And the sector skills council estimates that manufacturers will need to recruit 82,000 engineers, technologists and scientists between now and 2016. Meanwhile, apparently only 15% of sector firms recruit apprentices.
Through our membership of the European engineering federation Orgalime, we also know the UK isn’t alone in this. The lack of skilled workers is a major issue for companies in many other Member States including Germany, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. However, although others share the same problem, their situation is generally thought to be more favourable than the UK’s.
Many employers have a need for entrants from both the academic and the vocational route. In fact, in practice the routes are merging, or at least the cast iron demarcations of previous decades are nearly a thing of the past. For example, one firm in EAMA’s membership progresses as many as 70% of its technical apprentices to higher education. But to get to the reality it’s important to contextualise these sorts of observations. Clearly, company skills and training requirements are specific, eg are we talking about big or small companies, higher or intermediate skills, general engineering or high precision.
When it comes to SMEs for example, company pay profiles can lead to very different perceptions about recruitment in pretty much the same market. But also to a very different perception about how to go about resolving the skills shortage (training to fill a particular gap/need) as compared to a large company (working with a well identified skills framework).
2. What impact will recent changes relating to engineering qualifications in England have on the uptake of technical subjects and the skills base needed by the engineering sector?
The recent changes introduced by the Department for Education reduce the options open to young people. As much as engineering companies welcome the more rigorous demands on English and Maths, they are very disappointed by the downgrading of the Engineering Diploma from the equivalent of five GCSEs to one.
Industry had participated in the design of the Diploma, which was considered to be a really good vocational qualification preparing young people for a successful long term career with excellent earning potential.
Industry also has some concerns that the current changes could reinforce the bias that’s observable in some secondary schools against supporting pupils who decide they are better suited to a vocational route than an academic one for their future development. (Please see the evidence given to the BIS select committee by a group of apprentices on 6 March www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmbis/83/120306.htm)
3. 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 the different approaches?
Employers find it easier to get to see a Minister in the devolved administrations than in England. As a result the concerns of SME engineering firms may well appear to be much better understood than in England.
For example, in 2008 as the broader impact of the economic crisis on skilled workers became more apparent, the Welsh Assembly Government introduced a £48 million scheme to help firms support short time working so that they could keep skilled workers on their payroll rather than be forced to let some of them go to protect the long term viability of the company as a whole.
In fact more than that, companies were encouraged to use the lull in business to upskill their workforce in preparation for new business opportunities once more normal times returned.
4. Could the Government and others do more to raise the status of technical subjects?
There seems to be a dichotomy between BIS and DfE on the importance of technology and related subjects. It will be much better for the country and for young people going through the educational system when there’s a clearly settled approach and the two departments pull in the same direction.
A key element for all approaching the world of work is receiving timely, meaningful and practical information, advice and above all guidance about career paths and opportunities tailored to the individual. There are just too many examples of schools not handling this aspect well as most parents will probably attest from their own experience.
Please also see reference to the Engineering Diploma above (2).
5. What more should be done to attract and retain a more diverse technically skilled workforce
A key competitive consideration is that UK firms must have the freedom to recruit the specialist skills they need if they are unable to recruit them locally.
Our internationally competitive high-tech companies need top class engineers in their chosen disciplines as well as a raft of supportive technicians.
For example, Germany and Japan lead the world in control systems. Unsurprisingly, those countries also produce the best control engineers. Stopping UK companies recruiting from Japan means that UK companies aren’t going to be cutting edge leaders in their chosen field. Hobbling them in this way therefore makes them less competitive and reduces their export potential. The top cryogenics companies worldwide recruit from Russia etc.
It’s vital that business is able to recruit from the best worldwide to help raise UK standards in further education, research establishments and of course in the companies themselves.
Foreigners studying for second degrees here should be encouraged rather than constrained from working here as a rapid way to fill the gaps the UK education system has thrown up in STEM subjects at advanced levels.
(Please refer to ProAct in Wales as a means of sustaining and even developing skills during the current downturn 3 above).
Government setting the parameters for a potential UK solution for short time working, perhaps adapting the framework of the German insurance based scheme and by involving experts from the UK insurance industry, major manufacturers and some supply chain SMEs for a practical solution could be a useful start to the approach in England. (Note: A well designed practical scheme could also have an important impact on young people’s career decisions if it helps create a more stable employment environment.)
November 2013