Scottish Engineering has engaged with key stakeholders for skills in Scotland over the past two years regarding their increasing concern for the widening skills gap experienced
by industry and the declining support in real terms from the Scottish Government for work-based learning and apprenticeships.

To provide evidence to help reverse this economically damaging path, a skills gap survey for engineering and manufacturing roles in Scotland has been undertaken by Scottish
Engineering and partner industry bodies. This survey was designed to provide objective evidence to highlight skills gaps that could seriously restrict Scotland’s economic
opportunity from existing industries as well as new opportunities in offshore wind, energy transmission renewal and other potential growth areas.

The wide-ranging survey aimed to enable industry and government to work in partnership to maximise the opportunities for the Scottish economy and society, using objective evidence to shape the priorities that would support this.

According to the results of the survey, Scotland’s existing industry needs an additional 58% new engineers by the end of 2027 across thirty-one key engineering roles, over three-quarters of which are delivered by apprenticeship programmes. The results are solely based on the expected rates of retirement and the forecast business growth through expansion and do not include new inward investments.

While the average demand is for over half the current workforce, in some key roles – such as Electrical/Electronic Technicians - the demand is such that for every current 100 jobs, we will need nearly 150 recruits in the next three years.

For Scottish Engineering, the feedback from the industry on these survey results is clear. This is more than a skills crisis; this is a potential economic disaster and jeopardises the entire economic programme of the Scottish Government. The organisation said it’s not hyperbole to say that this government’s economic policy and prosperity agenda, support for business, industry and manufacturing, it’s Green Industrial Strategy and its National Strategy for Economic Transformation are all at risk.

Scottish Engineering’s chief executive Paul Sheerin added: “This survey took an enormous amount of effort to deliver, but we and our supporting partners were happy to do so, because the conversations we had with the Scottish Government led us to believe that objective evidence could change the direction to ensure that Scotland does not miss out on an Industrial Revolution-sized opportunity due to a lack of skills pipeline.

“The reality from the draft Scottish Government budget is there is a real-term cut in apprenticeship funding when this year one-in-five potential high quality engineering apprenticeships have been lost due to the lack of funding. That this is the case when a simple calculation shows that the government funding of about £2500 per annum would be paid back through Income Tax and National Insurance shows a bewildering lack of logic to industry.

“We appreciate that budgetary pressures are considerable, and so suggest that the budget action to address this crisis is the shared responsibility of the entire Cabinet rather
than skills support being the sole responsibility of any one Minister to argue. Engineering skills underpin our entire economy and society, surely meriting a Cabinet-wide commitment to find a solution.

“As the budget process progresses, our plea is for the whole of the government – and indeed the parliament - to support action on apprenticeship funding that will help address this crisis. The demand is clear, and we know that engineering apprenticeships can lift people out of poverty into lifelong careers. The future is in large part engineered – so let’s invest in that future now.”