£30m fund 'will help plug engineering skills gap'
Keen to encourage more people into the engineering sector, particularly women, the government has set aside £30million in funding.
The money is being spilt three ways to help smaller engineering companies train future engineers, boost the number of women in the profession, and improve engineering careers advice.
Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock said: "Skills are central to the UK economy and our long term competitiveness. In order to allow UK engineering to grow and compete on the world stage we need a guaranteed supply of highly skilled and talented engineers.
"As highlighted in the Perkins Review, the engineering sector is currently failing to draw on the whole talent pool. By supporting employers to develop the workforce of the future and bring more women into the engineering, we're empowering the industry to unlock its potential."
The announcement forms part of the government's Employer Ownership Fund, which provides 50% match funding to employers to enable them to address the skills shortages holding back their business.
It comes as a direct response to recommendations made in last year's Perkins Review of Engineering.
Terry Scuoler (pictured), chief executive of manufacturers' organisation EEF, commented: "The lack of engineering skills in the UK has become a ticking time bomb, and manufacturers are investing heavily in their current and future workforces to prevent it from exploding.
"What has been needed is extra support to push companies to adopt more innovative solutions to truly tackle the skills shortage and gender imbalance that exists in our industry.
"The fund announced today will do just that and we will be encouraging manufacturers to get involved and take this opportunity to tackle the skills challenge head on."
