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National Skills Academy for Nuclear Launch

Malcolm Wicks MP,  Minister of State for Energy
Science Museum,  31 January 2008

The National Skills Academy for Nuclear is the first Academy specific to the energy sector, so its launch today sets a very positive and significant precedent, and I’m very pleased to be here with David [Lammy].

As Energy Minister, I hear a good deal from industry about skills - both the skills gaps that can emerge as new technologies and processes are introduced and the skills shortages that are already with us and that could deepen as increasing numbers of the workforce retire.

That is quite a change. It used to be taken for granted that young people would queue up for apprenticeships and graduate trainee places with the CGEB, the Gas Board, ICI, Shell - and that the education system would turn out these young people year on year. And by and large it did so.

So what has changed? I would identify three factors. First, the baby boom, which peaked in 1964, was over by 1971, and the birth rate since has been well below the long-term average for the 20th century. Thus there are fewer young people entering work. Second, the economy has changed beyond recognition, with whole new industries growing up to provide employment that did not exist before, giving young people far more choice. And third, a greater proportion of school leavers now go to university, where they have more subjects to study than ever before.

There have been structural changes too. Apprenticeship schemes were cut back as cost-reduction and efficiency became the key business drivers in the 80s and 90s. Although defended at the time as improving competitiveness, this too pushed us towards the skewed age profile we see today.

So now the energy industry finds itself in unfamiliar territory. Needing to recruit but having to give more attention to seeking out and competing for people than it has in the past - it is a sellers’ market these days. But of course new recruits to the workforce are essential if the sector is to move forward, to secure our energy supplies and to bring on the low-carbon technologies that we need for the future.

It is a major challenge, but one that is not unique to this country. An ageing energy workforce is a feature of pretty much all the developed world from Australia to the USA. For once, we will not be able to rely on recruiting from overseas - too many others will be fishing in that pond.

This is why today’s launch of this Academy really is such good news - and it could not be more timely.

Not only, for the first time in two decades, do we have the real prospect of new nuclear power stations - but we also have a clear strategy for decommissioning the old facilities. As Energy Minister, I don’t often have cause to mention weapons, but there are submarine programmes to follow on from the “Astute” class, and the MoD programmes too will need skilled people.

All this means not just challenging work, but rewarding careers for people joining the industry.

As I mentioned, this is the first Academy in the energy sector to receive formal approval for its business plan. Its development has become a model of how to set up an Academy and of how to plan skills supply for the future. And the rest of the energy sector is set on catching up. The process industries have their own Academy, which was formally launched last week. Not only will this benefit the refineries and gas terminals, but process-related skills and know how are essential to carbon capture and storage. I also know that oil & gas companies and the electricity generators are developing plans to tackle their own skills issues. They may not follow the Academy route exactly as you have done, but they will be able to build on the lessons learned by the nuclear industry.

The Academy’s plans are rightly ambitious - 1000 apprentices and 150 foundation degree students starting in the first three years, with short courses to up-skill and re-train 4000 existing workers. This will make a real difference. But graduates are important too, and the industry needs to improve its links with the universities. I know that David is keen for the Academy to develop stronger relationships with the higher education sector, and I add my own voice to this.

I know many people have worked extremely hard to bring the Academy to the light of day. I would especially mention David Bonser, who chaired the Shadow Board so effectively, Jean Llewellyn and her team from NWDA who shouldered so much of the hard work, Joanna Woolf, Cogent and the Cogent Board, for their support and for providing the corporate framework to set the Academy up as a business and, of course, all the employers’ representatives who served on the Shadow Board and contributed so much to this successful outcome. And, in Government, we recognise that it was successful because Shadow Board members gave so freely of their time and expertise to get it right. My thanks to you all.

I also want to congratulate Jean [Llewellyn] on her selection as the Academy’s first Chief Executive. I know with Jean, and the team she now leads, the Academy is in safe hands.

I must also welcome members of the Management Board, who took over responsibility for the Academy at last week’s handover. I wish you well in what is a challenging but exciting endeavour.

Finally, we are here because the National Skills Academy for Nuclear is open for business. So let me wish every success to the Academy and all involved.