Institution responds to the Queen's speech 2014

The Institution's Dr Colin Brown says while the Queen's speech includes some welcome proposals, much more needs to be done to address the UK's looming engineering and science skills gap.

Dr Colin Brown, Director of Engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said in response to this year’s Queen’s speech:

“The Queen’s speech includes welcome proposals to cut red tape for businesses and help small companies access finance, but much more needs to be done to address the country’s looming engineering and science skills shortage.

“Plans to increase the number of apprentices to 2 million by May 2015 and provide apprenticeships standards through the Trailblazers scheme, while positive, don’t go far enough.

“To even stand still as the baby boomer generation retires, the UK needs to double the number of people taking up engineering careers by 2020.  Otherwise we are facing a severe skills shortage, which could hamper vital UK infrastructure projects and lead to the country exporting its own economic growth.  Apprenticeships and University degrees in sectors which add value to the UK economy, like engineering, need to be prioritised and incentivised. Government also needs to encourage employers and schools to work more closely and in a more co-ordinated way to show schoolchildren, from an early age, just how rewarding and varied jobs in engineering and science can be.”