Nearly 40 key bodies back new engineering manifesto demands
28 Aug 2019
The body representing key professional organisations and almost half a million UK engineers, has published a manifesto for a prosperous and secure economy and society, calling on the government to invest in skills, innovation, infrastructure and clean energy.
Engineering priorities for our future economy and society is the first publication by the National Engineering Policy Centre, on behalf of 39 UK leading engineering organisations led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), one of The NEPC ‘s member organisations said the report – timed ahead of the forthcoming spending review, the UK’s exit from the EU and a possible general election – called on Government to:
- Implement the recommendations of the Perkins Review, which sets out actions to ensure an adequate supply of engineering talent
- Increase Innovate UK’s budget to boost support for business innovation and development to increase productivity.
- Deliver fast and resilient digital infrastructure anddigital skills
- Deliver on the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Assessment or set out alternative plans
- Deliver on the UK’s ambitious climate change goals by investing in low-carbon heat, charging of electric vehicles and carbon capture and storage technologies.
Jarka Glassey, IChemE vice president (technical), said:
“Chemical engineers … have the problem-solving skills and technical expertise that makes them best placed to give policy-makers advice on how to deal with these issues.
“But we need the government to take the actions in this manifesto forward; to invest in us engineers, address the skills gap, and give us the political and financial backing to boost innovation and productivity to enable us to effect positive change to the problems we face in our society and environment.”
The National Engineering Policy Centre was established to give policy-makers access to the best independent advice, skills and expertise of the engineering profession, which employs more than 5.8 million people and generates £420.5 billion of UK Gross Value Added (GVA).
