In the wake of the Budget, senior figures in the transport and highways sector have said the UK has a long way to go on boosting skills in order to meet demand.
With the Apprenticeship Levy due to be introduced next month – designed to support the delivery of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 - the chancellor gave a renewed focus to boosting skills in his Budget this week.
Among the announcements was a welcomed emphasis on technical qualifications and STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Allocating cash from the £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) announced at the Autumn Statement, Mr Hammond told the House £300m of the fund would go ‘support the brightest and the best research talent, including support for 1000 new PhD places and fellowships, focused on STEM subjects’.
Council directors at leading sector body ADEPT suggested that skills work needed to start earlier in schools.
ADEPT president, Rupert Clubb told Transport Network: ‘While we welcome the support for STEM PhDs, we would like to see support for our young people who need to be excited by STEM and confident in the decisions they make while at school.’
Money from the NPIF will also be allocated towards ‘putting the UK at the forefront of global technological progress including through developing artificial intelligence and robotics, and batteries for the next generation of electric vehicles,’ Treasury officials said.
Mr Clubb added: ‘Supporting electric vehicles will help to alleviate congestion and make a real contribution to the work undertaken by local authorities in tackling air quality’.
Richard Hayes, chief executive of the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) also raised concerns over the skills issue, stating that it wasn’t clear whether industry was really ready for the Apprenticeship Levy.
He reiterated calls to allow professional bodies like the IHE to be given a role in supporting the Apprenticeship Levy and using the cash generated to support the Government’s ambitions.
He added that ‘rail has got its act together on apprentices’, while highways and infrastructure had not made the necessary progress yet and could lose out on incoming talent.
‘We are still relying heavily on overseas labour and labour close to retirement age. This needs to be addressed if we are to deliver the programme of major works we have in the pipeline.’
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