Skills shortage in engineering prompts Government response

A joint initiative to tackle the skills shortage in flood risk management is being driven by the Environment Agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Action on Engineering Skills Shortage in Flood Risk Management, issued today, outlines a series of actions with the aim of inspiring school leavers and graduates into careers in flood and coastal engineering and then retaining and developing them.

This joint plan is in response to recommendations in a report commissioned by Defra and the Environment Agency and prepared by ICE. The report identified a shortage of engineering and science skills in the workforce with particular reference to a shortage of engineering skills in flood risk management and a lack of suitably qualified flood risk engineers.

Initiatives such as working with GCSE exam boards, providing work experience to sixth formers as well as sponsorship schemes for undergraduates are ideas that will be considered by an Employersí Forum, being set up by the Environment Agency, to tackle the skills gap in flood and coastal engineering. Representatives from Government, the Institution of Civil Engineers, consultants, contractors and other organisations involved in flood risk management are working together to improve the situation over time.

The Environment Agencyís Head of Flood Risk Management David Rooke supports these initiatives. He said: Having sufficient skilled engineers and technical staff is key to successful delivery of flood risk management. We want to work with the industry and education sector to ensure that our needs can be met against an increase in flood risk. Protecting people from the environment and the environment from people is a very challenging and very rewarding career.

Exploring a number of ways to work with the education sector and industry to challenge the skills shortage, the Environment Agency, Defra and the Institution of Civil Engineers will work closely together to achieve change. The main focus of efforts will be to:

encourage more graduates into flood risk management by providing vacation work and sandwich course placements
provide case studies and computer models for undergraduate courses

improve provision of postgraduate education in flood management

promote skills development in the workplace and other initiatives to help retain staff within flood and coastal risk management

The Institution of Civil Engineers will set up a system to assess and record the quality of work placements, as an extension to the best practice guidance for work experience.

Jon Prichard, ICEís Director of Engineering, commented: Finding sufficient good quality engineers to address the skills shortage in flood risk management is essential. ICE is keen to work with all employers to ensure that the development needs and aspirations of these candidates are met.

The Employersí Forum will head up an initiative working with universities, consultants and contractors to help provide case study materials, computer models and visiting lecturers and to help develop degree course content aimed at improving the relevance of the course to the real world of civil engineering.

The Environment Agency is already supporting the UKís first ever Rivers and Coastal Engineering Foundation Degree with Middlesex, Bristol and West England universities which provides a mixture of work place training and university study.

The Employersí Forum will explore the potential for developing postgraduate course material to support existing courses. The Environment Agency will work with the engineering consultants and contractors to identify which universities may be receptive to developing such material and seek appropriate funding for its development.

The Environment Agency will encourage the people and organisations it works with to obtain national accreditation for staff training and development, matching its own Investors in People standard.

Underlying all of these initiatives to encourage engineers to work in flood risk management will be an appraisal of salary to ensure that candidates of the required calibre can be attracted to this important activity.