Help us promote the importance of engineeringthe importance of engineering Engineering and technology are crucial to the UK’s economy and the IET is actively engaged in a wide range

Help us promote the importance of engineering

Engineering and technology are crucial to the UK’s economy and the IET is actively engaged in a wide range of engineering and technology-related policy areas.

With a UK General Election taking place on Thursday 12

December, we’ve brought together the main areas of focus for

our IET policy work and we’re calling on our UK members to

encourage their own prospective parliamentary candidates to

support our call for these important policy changes.

With the campaign now in full swing, please feel free to put the

questions that follow to the candidates standing in your area.

during the UK General Election campaign

2

Skills

The UK has a long-standing skills gap and a chronic failure to encourage enough young people to become engineers and skilled technicians:

– 124,000 engineers and technicians with core engineering skills are required per year in the UK (State of Engineering 2018, Engineering UK).

– 59,000 annual shortfall of engineering graduates and technicians to fill core engineering roles at Level 3 and above (State of Engineering 2018, Engineering UK).

– 50% of roles in the Shortage Occupation List are in engineering, with this pressure likely to increase following potential restrictions on EU citizens coming to the UK (Shortage Occupation List, Home Office).

Ask your candidates: What is their position on the promotion of engineering and technology in schools and how will they improve access to impartial careers advice and guidance?

How will they ensure that funding for FE colleges reflects the higher cost of providing engineering programmes, especially with the forthcoming T levels in engineering and manufacturing, as well as delivery of higher-level technical skills?

How will they invest in the skills needed to deliver net-zero and a green economy?

The world is changing faster than ever. The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution means that new technology is creating new industries, changing existing ones and transforming the way things are made. How will they promote and fund the skills needed to meet this challenge?

59,000 annual shortfall of engineering graduates and technicians to fill core engineering roles...

3

Digital

Digital connectivity is an essential prerequisite for an advanced digital economy and ensuring UK competitiveness, since the fast, resilient and secure transfer of data is required for many data-driven systems.

Conversely, broadband outages are estimated to cost business over £12 billion per year (£12 billion: the cost of internet downtime to UK businesses, Beaming 2018).

Ask your candidates: How will they drive the establishment of world-class digital connectivity and infrastructure that is fast, secure and resilient across both urban and rural areas of the UK?

...broadband outages are estimated to cost business over £12 billion per year...

4

Transport

The transport sector in the UK accounts for large amounts of CO2 emissions, but also other pollutants which cause extensive air quality issues, particularly in large towns and cities.

Targets have been set in the UK for the roll out of electric vehicles, but more needs to be done to support their take-up.

– 23% of UK greenhouse gas emissions from surface transport, the largest single contributor (Net Zero Technical Report, Committee on Climate Change, 2019)

– 7% Total UK CO2 emissions from international aviation, more than double 1990 levels (Net Zero Technical Report, Committee on Climate Change, 2019)

– 5.8% total UK market share of Electric Vehicles in 2018 (SMMT Vehicle Data, SMMT 2018)

Ask your candidates: How will they encourage further investment in transport technology to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles?

High-performing infrastructure is a central pillar of any world-class economy...

5

Housing and energy

If we are to meet the 2050 targets in the Climate Change Act, then all housing in the UK must have zero carbon emissions from space and water heating, as well as space cooling.

– 17% direct UK emissions from buildings, primarily from the use of fossil fuels for heating (Net Zero Technical Report, Committee on Climate Change, 2019).

– £1.4bn estimated annual cost to the NHS in additional treatment from conditions arising from bad housing. Warmer housing could also prevent many of the 35,000 excess winter deaths per year (Good Housing – Better health, The Academic – Practitioner Partnership, 2016).

– 85% of UK households and 65% of non-domestic buildings currently use fossil fuel-based natural gas (Clean Growth: Transforming Heat, The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2018).

Ask your candidates: Will they set up a nationwide deep retrofit programme to upgrade the existing housing stock? With an initial focus on social housing, a programme to boost the energy efficiency of existing buildings is the only way to deliver the required carbon savings.

Will they commit to a large-scale deployment of hydrogen to homes and businesses to be implemented over the next 30 years? This is one of the only ways to make a significant contribution to meeting the UK’s greenhouse gas target.

£1.4bn estimated annual cost to the NHS in additional treatment from conditions arising from bad housing.

6

Innovation

Innovation is a pillar of the UK’s economy, but we face stiff international competition in the global market. Long-term commitment to innovation is essential to encourage businesses to invest here and help create new markets, supply chains and jobs.

Firms that consistently invest in R&D are 13% more productive than firms that don’t (Innovation Report 2014: Innovation, research and Growth, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2014).

– For every £1 invested, Innovate UK’s schemes return an average of £7.30 GVA to the economy (10 years shaping the future, Innovate UK, 2017).

– For every £1 spent by the government on R&D, private sector R&D output rises by 20p per year in perpetuity, by raising the level of the UK knowledge base (The Economic Significance of the UK Science Base: a report for the Campaign for Science and Engineering, Haskel J, Hughes A, Bascavusoglu-Moreau E, 2014).

Ask your candidates: Will they increase Innovate UK’s budget to help address the UK’s under-investment in innovation and the ‘D’ of R&D?

Long-term commitment to innovation is essential to encourage businesses to invest...

7

Infrastructure

Decisions we make about our infrastructure now will sustain us for decades to come.

High-performing infrastructure is a central pillar of any world-class economy, and investing in infrastructure improves productivity, collective wellbeing, social inclusivity, healthy lifestyle choices, and national safety and resilience.

– The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) was established in 2015 to provide independent strategic thinking, analysis and advice to address the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs.

– 11th: UK ranking in the overall quality of infrastructure in 2017 (The Global Competitiveness Report 2017–2018, Klaus Schwab and World Economic Forum, 2017).

– Every £1 spent on infrastructure in the UK is worth £2.84 in economic output (The effect of the size and the mix of public spending on growth and inequality, OECD, 2016).

Ask your candidates: The management of infrastructure projects in the UK should be subject to a continual improvement programme.

To enable this and show the benefits of major infrastructure projects, ask your candidates if they’ll call for all public bodies to publish forecast costs and benefits of their major infrastructure projects at each appraisal stage and a suitable point after completion.

High-performing infrastructure is a central pillar of any world-class economy...