Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the announcement of 12 June 2014 on the £30 million fund to secure the supply of engineers and boost the number of women in the sector, what budget was provided for the developing women engineers strand of that fund in 2014-15; how much has been spent on that strand of work in 2014-15 to date; and what forecast he has made of total spending on that strand of work in 2014-15.

“Women in Engineering” is one of a number of calls under the Employer Ownership Fund that have been run in response to recommendations from the Perkins review of engineering skills. A nominal maximum budget of £10m was allocated to the “Women in Engineering” call, but it was not as successful as the other calls in attracting bids - there were only two successful applications which have been awarded a total of £104, 320, of which £12,288 is expected to be drawn down this year.

There is no underspend of the Employer Ownership budget which is fully allocated for FY2014/15. All unallocated funds from calls that have closed have been assigned to new calls that will also address the recommendations of the Perkins review such as the current call aimed at improving engineering skills in smaller companies.