7 April 2009
Select Committee calls for creation of a Government Chief
Engineer
Summary
In January 2008 the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills
Select Committee launched an inquiry into Engineering. Its scope
was around the role of engineering in society, the state of
engineering skills, the situation of R&D, and the role of the
various bodies in engineering. It also looked at how engineering
was treated by government, where government received its advice,
and how much engineering knowledge and expertise was available
within the civil service. Particular sectors (nuclear engineering,
plastics electronics engineering, and geo-engineering) were
examined as case studies.
The report from this inquiry contains a number of
recommendations including:
- the creation of a Government Chief Engineer post and a
change to the role of Government Chief Scientific Adviser to
include engineering
- engineering should feature more prominently in the
provision of careers advice in schools
- DIUS should commission research into the factors
influencing women and other under-represented groups in
engineering
- the professional institutions, Engineering Council UK and
government should do more to promote Chartered, Incorporated, and
EngTech status for engineers
- the government should produce roadmaps for each major
engineering programme including skills provision and
requirements
Semta View
Semta provided extensive written evidence to the various
elements of the inquiry, and also appeared in front of the
Committee to give oral evidence. The recommendations of the
Committee are welcome, although the lack of recognition for the
role of Sector Skills Councils is disappointing. In our evidence,
we made it clear that the government does not utilise the expertise
and resources of SSCs to its fullest extent when creating policy
for our sectors. We look forward to the government’s response to
this report and will support any improvements to government
understanding of (and support for) engineering sectors. See our
page on the Engineering inquiry
here. Our page on the ongoing inquiry into
‘putting science and engineering at the heart of government policy’
is
here.
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