Articles
The view is not one you see on television: looking down the street with its surprisingly small houses, past an airport-style security station and armed police, towards the railings on Whitehall, where tourists press their faces against the ironwork.
It’s Downing Street in late June. There is an unusual visitor parked outside number 10 – a full-scale model of the Bloodhound land-speed record attempt vehicle. Down at the other end of the street, behind the railings, the tourists are peering at it. “What is that?” they mutter. Some of the assembled photographers and journalists, one suspects, are also unfamiliar with it. There is a low murmur of anticipation as we await the Prime Minister, due to appear from behind that iconic black door at any minute.
The occasion is an announcement of an initiative by the engineering institutions to register 100,000 apprentices as technicians by 2018. Among David Cameron’s audience on the day are a number of engineering apprentices. It’s people like these who will become the EngTechs of the future, the IMechE hopes – and so combat an increasingly worrying situation in terms of skills shortages in engineering and manufacturing.
So Bloodhound is making its first visit to Downing Street, and the Prime Minister has been keen to get involved. The IMechE’s top brass are at Downing Street, including chief executive Stephen Tetlow. The other engineering institutions are also represented, in a show of unity behind a project that has clearly caught the public’s imagination.
A closer look at the replica car reveals the IMechE’s logo running beneath the engine housing. The decision to sponsor the Bloodhound initiative was taken as a means of supporting a project that is inspiring the next generation of budding engineers.
The outreach figures speak for themselves. The Bloodhound education programme has been made available to all pupils in primary and secondary schools, and to students in further and higher education. Nearly 4,000 schools registered in the first 18 months of the project, plus numerous presentations have been given to other groups and professional institutions. It’s been a tremendous success.
Cameron soon appears, with a bounce in his step, and chats about the car amiably with Wing Commander Andy Green, who is dressed in full RAF regalia. There’s the obligatory posing for photos with Green in front of the Bloodhound, and with the apprentices outside number 10’s door. Many fine words are spoken about the importance of engineering and the need to boost the number of technicians.
It’s not often that so many engineers have gathered at Downing Street, and the receptiveness of the Prime Minister’s office to rubber-stamping an initiative that goes right to the heart of the problems facing the engineering sector should be welcomed.
Vince Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has also approved of the initiative, and interested media included the BBC, Sky and Press Association. Such events will not solve the skills crisis on their own, but for those who can remember a time when the government paid no attention at all to the industry, they are baby steps in the right direction.