The report comes at a critical time for the Engineering industry as Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the world’s perception of manufacturing.
Before COVID Engineering was associated with heavy industry, in a time of global crisis the sector has shown its ness city to daily life: from PPE, to vaccines and ventilators. It has never been clearer that a strong economy needs a strong manufacturing sector.
The report outlines the importance of government supporting the development of UK manufacturing skills to ensure an adaptable, capable and diverse workforce by:
- Putting manufacturing at the heart of tackling urgent societal challenges, including Covid-19 recovery
- Levelling up through job creation and business growth
- Creating a route to a net-zero and digitalised society.
Co-author Shiza Naveed, Policy Connect, explains that “Covid-19 has presented an opportunity for the sector to reflect on its skills needs going forwards and create an environment where manufacturing professionals reskill and upskill in line with demand. The examples of existing good practice the inquiry found shows that we can do this, but that there is more the government needs to do to support the sector across the board, in order for it to support society’s transition to net zero“
The report underscores how Engineering will need to combine inclusivity and diversity to actively draw on the strengths and talents of the whole population and recommends that government needs to drive forward the equality objectives published in July 2021 in order to create a more inclusive, accessible and diverse manufacturing sector actively drawing on all talents.
