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Commenting on the publication of the Government’s Perkins' Review on UK engineering skills, Stephen Tetlow, Chief Executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said:
"The UK urgently needs 87,000 new engineers every year to give our economy any chance of future growth, yet we currently only manage to recruit 51,000. As each day goes by, the UK loses 100 skilled engineers.
“If we do not meet the shortfall in skills we won’t just slip down the scale of world competitiveness, we will fall off the cliff.
"However, with less than 20% of all students taking maths beyond GCSE, and an estimated 8.5 million adults with maths skills lower than that of a 10-year-old, the nation simply lacks the available pool of talent needed to innovate and grow our economy.
“In a time of high unemployment, especially in the 18-25 age group, it is simply wrong to rely solely on importing the necessary talent or, more seriously, to allow industry to relocate overseas.
"The Institution therefore welcomes the publication of the Perkins' Review and urges everyone to see this as a foundation to help promote, inspire and encourage more people into what is one of the most exciting, well-paid and in-demand professions in the UK.
"There are 22 recommendations, all of which urgently need Government, academia and industry to coordinate and action their implementation. It is far from certain that this will be achieved. But if we fail in this task, we risk not only a lost generation of British engineering talent, but also a rapid and irreversible decline in UK competitiveness and our national infrastructure.”