Industrialists flag skills shortages as major concern

THERE was plenty of cheerleading for British business at the International Festival for Business in Liverpool yesterday but also serious concern over skills shortages.

It appears to be a perennial business issue and one that was touched on by leading industrialists such as Mark Elborne, the UK chief executive of GE, Marcus Bryson, chief executive of GKN Aerospace, the prime minister David Cameron and Tory grandee Lord Heseltine.

Richard Daniel, chief executive of aerospace group Raytheon UK, which has a base at Broughton, near Chester, brought the issue into focus by saying the average age of aerospace and defence workers was 54.

He said this meant 60% of the workforce in the industry was approaching their retirement in 10 years.

“We need to avoid the skills gap which is coming in the next 10 years. Some two and half million students are studying in the UK and less than 6% are focused on engineering and technology. Compared to other nations we’re significantly behind.”

He said industry had to make it more of an attractive career to school pupils. Alistair Dormer, the global rail chief executive of Hitachi Rail, said the company was working closely with the establishment of a vocational university technical college (UTC) near its new train factory in County Durham where it is investing £82m and hiring 730 staff.

Addressing the issue, prime minister David Cameron, said: “We’ve got to have a better conversation between universities, colleges and Government on one hand and industry on the other about what the result of [pupils’] choices are.

“If you’re 14 it’s quite difficult to find out, ‘If I do this course what will happen to my life chances?’ We need to create better information to show what the consequences of your choices will be. We also need an annual conversation to see where we’re heading and what skills we’re short on.”

Speaking later in the day Lord Heseltine said: “We’ve got a real problem and it’s going to get worse. There’s nothing you can do about it in the short term. It’s a simple choice. We either give up the export opportunities or we import them [the skilled workers] and the politicians will have to handle the arguments.”