Political process kicks off

London/Liverpool, UK - The process engineering sector is at last starting to flex its political muscle with a series of initiatives challenging political leaders, the financial community and educators to help raise the status of engineering and manufacturing in the UK.

Politicians, the banks and the education system are failing the manufacturing sector, Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) said in a speech at the Trade Union Congress on 15 Sept.

Elliot based his comments on the results of a CIA survey, which found that 87% of business leaders in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry feel that politicians of all parties do not understand the significance of manufacturing and do not have the right policies to support it. Manufacturing is also being let down by the education sector and banks according to 78% of those surveyed.

The UK has good industrial infrastructure and we could be well placed to lead the transition to a low carbon economy but the failure of politicians to understand industries that actually make things puts those strengths at risk," the CIA boss told trade union delegates.

"Politicians speak about rebalancing the economy and of new green jobs in manufacturing but so far all we lack a convincing strategy for making the UK an attractive place to manufacture, said Elliot. "The Government must start today with measures such as support for short term working and in the long-term benchmark the UK against its competitors on tax, support for R&D, investment in infrastructure and being welcoming to business.”

Meanwhile,  the professional engineering community is to use a series of party conference events to call on Vince Cable, Lord Drayson and Kenneth Clarke to invest in low carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

The Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor, the minister for science and Innovation and the shadow secretary for business will speak at their respective party conferences on the 22 and 30 September and the 7 Oct on the Government’s role in managing the economy and providing support to particular sectors including engineering.

The debates have been organised by the think tank Reform in association with Engineering the future - an alliance of the engineering community including the Engineering Council UK (ECUK), the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET),the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng.)

The debates will also feature guest contributions from young engineers including former Young Woman Engineer of the Year, Dr Hanna Sykulska-Lawrence of Imperial College and the 2007 IChemE Young Chemical Engineer of the Year, Dr Rachel Cooke from Cadbury plc. Senior figures from the engineering community will also speak, including Dame Wendy Hall of Southampton University, Jonathan Flint, Chief Executive of Oxford Instruments and David Waboso, Director of Lines Upgrades at London Underground.”

The professional engineering community will use the events to inform the three parties about the Engineering the future alliance e which aims to work with policy-makers to create a thriving economy based on wealth creation and prosperity through innovation, as well as sustainable education and training to tackle pressing global challenges.

The Engineering the future alliance aims tol use the meetings to advocate the need to:

· Sustain and encourage investment in the skills for the future
· Encourage green and low carbon innovation to develop global leadership in this sector
· Capitalise on the value of the UK science base
· Harness the power of public spending to encourage innovation
· Make greater use of engineering advice in Government policy making

Paul Jackson, Chief Executive of the ETB said: “I am delighted with the interest being shown in engineering and innovation from the leadership of all political parties. Engineering has a vital role to play in the UK’s economic recovery and these party conference events will showcase and explore exactly that. The UK has the skills and research base to allow us to capitalise on new and emerging technologies which will shape the coming decades. The right investment and guidance will be crucial to achieving this and the time to act is now. “