Engineering news
Engineering organisations have warned the government that Brexit must not restrict access to the engineering skills from across Europe that the UK economy relies on in a report published today by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The report,
Engineering a future outside the EU: Securing the best outcome for the UK, has been produced by 35 professional engineering organisations, including the IMechE. The “Engineering the Future” group has consulted with their members, totalling some 450,000 engineers, as well as employers, over the last two months.
According to the report, engineers from the EU are essential to maintaining the quality and success of UK engineering companies and universities. In academia, engineering has proportionally more staff originating from the EU, 15%, than across all subjects as a whole.
Despite the warning on access to skills, the development of a refocused industrial strategy was welcomed in the report, as a way for engineering to maintain and increase its contribution to economic development after the UK leaves the EU. The report says that engineering contributes at least £280 billion in gross value to the economy – 20% of the total.
Professor Ann Dowling, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “Engineering makes an enormous contribution to economic and social progress in the UK, and we have heard from a significant cross-section of the engineering profession that leaving the EU poses a real challenge to this contribution.
“For many, plans to trigger Article 50 raise questions about our ability to train enough skilled engineers to meet the country’s needs, to attract the brightest and best international talent to the UK to address specific skills shortages, and to collaborate with colleagues in non-UK European Union countries in a way that accelerates innovation that is of value to wider society.
“As government develops its plans for a renewed focus on industrial strategy, we hope it will use this opportunity to build on the UK’s existing strengths in engineering research, innovation and industry to grow their contribution to economic and social progress, and to invest in increasing the supply of skilled engineers necessary to sustain this growth.
Colin Brown, director of engineering at the IMechE, said: “This is the output of a significant piece of work. The report is a wake-up call for those issues that are at risk, as well as a platform for those opportunities that should now be seized from our greater freedom.
“The central message is that government cannot do too much in the coming months by way of a two-way dialogue with our profession to get the best possible outcome for engineering outside the EU. There is no perfect solution, but we certainly mustn't leave it to non-engineers to choose the way forward alone.”
The report, which can be read here
www.raeng.org.uk/UKEngineeringFuture, emphasises that the uncertainty about the status of EU workers in the UK and further risks to the supply of skilled engineers are likely to result in delays to infrastructure projects such as HS2, Thames Tideway and Hinkley Point C. These major projects will face recruitment difficulties and increasing costs if demand for labour outstrips supply, the report says.
A possible solution is to issue temporary visas for skilled engineers from EU countries and for the government to extend procedures for intra-company transfers to cover EU citizens, as many companies require their engineers to move freely to support and fulfil contracts, the report concludes.
It also calls on the government to seek the closest achievable association with relevant EU-funded research programmes, to maintain the UK’s continued leading role in developing European and global standards and to ensure data protection and cyber security laws are close to EU laws to enable collaboration.