Skills inquiry launched

A cross-party group of MPs has launched a parliamentary inquiry into the provision of engineering skills in the UK.

The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee (DIUS) has announced  that it is seeking responses from interested parties on a range of views including an “investigation of generic issues affecting engineering”.

The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) welcomed the move. Last year, its report, Skills Shortages and Recruitment Agency Behaviours, discovered that there were 20,000 unfilled vacancies in the consultancy and engineering sector.

An ACE spokesperson said: “We asked the Government to look into this issue last year, and we would like to think that we were instrumental in driving this issue forward. We will certainly be responding to the call to submit written evidence and we hope that we will also be called to give oral evidence.

The deadline for written submissions to the general inquiry is Friday 15 March.