HC Deb 19 February 1997 vol 290 cc596-7W
Mr. Ingram

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment his Department has made of the extent of mismatch in skills and training in the United Kingdom engineering sector; and if he will make a statement. [16115]

Mr. Ian Taylor

[holding answer 17 February 1997]: My Department has drawn on a large number of studies to determine the strategic requirements of British business for engineering skills. It has also had first-hand input from senior representatives of business and industry who were members of the action for engineering steering group and task forces.

Action for engineering brought together, in an action-oriented forum, employers and training providers to better and meet the skill requirements of industry and commerce. The majority of projects implemented and developed for implementation under action for engineering will address skills shortages through action on the selection, education, training and development of professional engineers and technicians. Outputs from the initiative include: a joint venture company, Setnet, which provides a single point of contact for advice to teachers and industry on school-industry links and curriculum support; better co-ordination of efforts to encourage more of our most able young people to consider engineering as a career, the publication and dissemination of best practice guides on the recruitment and development of technicians and on making better use of engineers; the launch of a training challenge for engineering; and the establishment of a master of engineering in business degree aimed at improving the breadth of skills of engineers in, and destined for, the boardroom.

At the postgraduate level, the research councils are responsible for providing support to help to meet the country's needs, and they are in regular contact with industry and other research users on issues of quantity and quality of supply, in order to develop initiatives such as the engineering doctorate, the integrated graduate development scheme and the research masters. The foresight programme, run by the Office of Science and Technology, is providing further valuable information on skills needs in engineering and other disciplines.