Crossrail chief Terry Morgan has sent a wake up call to the transport and highways industry over a lack of skills capacity, stating it is now affecting both the public and private sector.
Mr Morgan (pictured) challenged an audience at the Road Safety Markings Association’s (RSMA) annual conference and exhibition, Roadmarking Live, to do more together to solve the issue.
‘Where are the new ideas going to come from if we don’t get this right and where are the women?' he asked.
A change in commitment and philosophy was needed to tackle the skills shortage he said, outlining a range of overlapping concerns.
These included the size of infrastructure commitments that had been agreed over the past few years as well as an ageing workforce, shortfall of new talent in the pipeline and relatively poor productivity in the past.
‘I’m determined to ensure that across road and rail we make our fair contribution to the three million apprenticeship starts in the UK and achieve the figure of 30,000 for this sector. We can only do that if we have a clear strategy together,’ he said.
Mr Morgan went on to highlight the importance of the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy, which he said 'was set up to ensure a diverse, sustainable and high-quality pipeline of skills for the delivery, maintenance and operation of our transport infrastructure'.
It plans to deliver 30,000 apprenticeships in the road and rail sector to 2020. The strategy also aims to help existing workforce in the sector to ‘upskill’ to help meet new challenges in the industry and develop a coordinated national network of transport infrastructure skills.
