Speech by Lord Sainsbury of Turville

Launch of the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence

1 December, 2003

Thank you Sir Colin, I am delighted to join you to launch the UK Standards for Professional Engineering Competence. These standards have gone a long way to meeting the objections that dogged their predecessors, and should offer a real benefit to employers and organisations that adopt them.

The current change to the system of registration is considered necessary primarily because SARTOR was not well understood by the employers who are the key constituency. In addition EC (UK) believe there is a need for a clear set of distinct requirements for the engineering technician profession. Within the SARTOR system for registration, the requirements for engineering technicians were 'lost' within the requirements for engineers.

The new standards emphasise the importance to maintaining competence through Continuing Professional Development. Candidates will also need to demonstrate commitment to professional codes of conduct and relevant codes of practice. This is absolutely vital if the UK engineering industry is to maintain its high position in the world economy.

The strength of the standards lie in their flexibility - there will be a number of routes whereby holders of 'non-compliant' qualifications may achieve registration as professional engineers.

Becoming registered as an engineer or engineering technician is important for individuals as it effectively provides them with a passport to greater employment opportunities. Registration is also important for employers as it enables them to pitch for business on this basis.

I am particularly pleased that the Standards emerged so quickly from the reorganisation of the former Engineering Council planned by Bob Hawley in 2001. The new regulatory body, ECUK, working closely with ETB, has established strong links with Industry, thereby challenging traditional thinking about the purpose - and indeed presentation format - of registration standards.

I welcome the new system and offer my support for it. The new standards will:

• Support the need for engineering technicians to be recognised separately from engineers by the system of registration.
• Provide greater flexibility in achieving registration.
• Help to raise the profile of the profession.
• Promote the image of engineering as a career, and
• Assist in getting the message across to industry and potential engineers that registration as an engineer, or as an engineering technician, is valuable, recognisable and achievable.

All of the Institutions that have signed up to UK-SPEC have worked hard to achieve this position, and are to be congratulated.

It is now for employers, potential registrants and other stakeholders, to embrace the new standards to ensure their success.

This is a timely publication. My colleague, Patricia Hewitt, launched last month, the report of the "Accounting for People Task Force". A key recommendation is that companies should adopt Human Capital Management policies that identify the skills and competences necessary for business success. The report encourages employers to seek advice from professional organisations.

I am also glad to see such a strong emphasis being placed on the role of the technician. While the UK campaigns well at higher education levels, our percentage of the workforce qualified to intermediate skill levels, apprenticeships, skilled craft and technicians is low: 28% in the UK compared to 51% in France and 65% in Germany, we have got to improve our performance here.

In this pair of Standards ECUK has played its part. Having a separate Standard for the Engineering Technician identifies the importance of the category. But it also enables a different approach, more tailored to the needs of the individual and his or her employer; different that is from the certainties of the Chartered or Incorporated Engineer.

The new Sector Skills Councils are going to be vital to delivery of the education and training that underpins all three of the categories of engineer embraced by these Standards. Happily three SSCs specifically concerned with engineering - SEMTA, Construction Skills, and e-Skills - are already in being, with others with a high interest, including COGENT, Summit Skills and Skills for Health, not far behind. I am pleased to see that the guidance in the new Standards specifically refers readers to them.

Another important issue for engineers is management and leadership. As Professor Michael Porter and Christian Ketels said, in their recent report for the Economic and Social Research Council, "The UK faces a transition to a new phase of economic development. We find that the competitiveness agenda facing the UK leaders in Government and business reflects the challenges of moving from a location competing on relatively low costs of doing business to a location competing on unique value and innovation. This new agenda also includes new skills for managers to move up the value-added chain".

For this reason it is vital that the skills and competences required of senior engineers and technologists include management and leadership. I am pleased to see the importance these standards place on technical and managerial leadership. These skills are vital in the age of competition ahead of us.

I recognise too that the Government has a key role to play. On the supply side, we have put a number of reforms in place to ensure that the skills and learning offered in our schools, our colleges and higher education institutes meet industry's needs. There is also an increasing emphasis on vocational opportunities. At the same time businesses need to work more with the Learning and Skills Councils and the Regional Development Agencies to determine what the skill needs are.

As a Government, we have put in place many of the policies that are essential for a dynamic and innovative knowledge economy, in areas such as macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy, competition policy and the funding of the science and engineering base. But none of these initiatives will be successful unless Government and industry working together ensure that industry has the necessary supply of skilled people to deliver high-tech, high valued-added strategies.

We recently published the Skills Strategy. We have also set up the Science and Engineering Ambassadors programme. The Ambassadors programme is based on the idea that the best people for making those in education appreciate the relevance of the school subjects to the world of work are the young who are using them in their post-school lives. This is not a new idea. Many organisations and individuals already devote resources to this. We are not trying to replace them. SEAs has established a framework for Ambassadors so that pupils, schools, teachers and parents can have confidence that when they deploy them they are getting people who know how to talk to the young, can be effective role models and mentors, and understand that the teacher is in charge. They will be competent to carry out whichever of the Ambassador roles they undertake. Currently, we have about 4,000 Ambassadors, and we hope to build the numbers up to 12,000.

The Ambassadors programme, as you may know, is co-ordinated by SETNET and delivered across the UK through the 53 SET Points. This initiative is making real progress and I urge all of you to encourage employers and individuals to engage with the programme.

Modern Apprenticeships have a key role to play in giving young people the skills they need to do the job to the high standards that employers require. The LSC has agreed that they will be the principal vocational route to drive up skills in the workplace and help businesses become more productive, innovative and competitive. It is vital that employers get involved in running Modern Apprenticeship (MA) programmes, in order to increase the benefits they can receive. I am glad to see they are recognised as an important route to Engineering Technician and Professional Engineer registration.

Finally, a word about sustainability. It is clear that all our futures depend on the ability of our professional engineering workforce to develop products and processes that enable us to inhabit a sustainable world with a sustainable lifestyle. I am very pleased by the emphasis these new Standards have given to sustainability in design and operation.

These standards are very forward looking. They also have the potential to contribute to making the UK a more productive and sustainable place in which to live and work, and they deserve our fullest support.