Engineering Skills: Design and Technology Education Debate
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Stephen Metcalfe
Main Page: Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative - South Basildon and East Thurrock)Department Debates - View all Stephen Metcalfe's debates with the Department for Education
Engineering Skills: Design and Technology Education
Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts(8 years, 2 months ago)
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Michelle Donelan
I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. The shortage of STEM skills is vast across a number of sectors, and we need to face that. In the military, the private sector and the public sector, it is a big problem facing us. Also on that point, there is a problem with the numbers of females and of people from socially deprived backgrounds in STEM. We must try to make the industry much more representative. The number of women in engineering is just 6%. Something needs to be done to address that.
A business in my constituency, Alford Technologies, summed the situation up well in an email to me. It said:
“Engineering is sadly underrated in the UK. Britain needs to do something to raise the profile of engineering, to make it something more people aspire to do. In order to stay at the forefront of the modern, technological world, the Government really needs to invest in encouraging the next generation of great engineers, designers and innovators.”
Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)
I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. She says that the Government must do more to engage and promote engineering, but does she agree that there is also an important role for businesses to play? They should be getting out there, into primary and secondary schools, promoting their business and showing what they do behind what might appear to be closed doors to families and children, who often do not know what engineering means until it is too late.
Michelle Donelan
I thank my hon. Friend for that point, which I will touch on in a minute. I completely agree: the link between business, companies and education needs to be aligned much better. There is a big stigma and misconception about this sector, and the only way in which we can myth-bust is by introducing young people to real people in the industry, who will tell them what life is like in the job.