In Prime Minister’s Questions today, Ian Sollom, Member of Parliament for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire, called on the Government to urgently bring forward a plan to address the UK’s acute skills shortage in defence manufacturing in light of the current Ukraine crisis.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s meetings with the defence sector and measures to improve the access small businesses have to the defence supply chain, Mr Sollom, who is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Universities and Skills, asked the Prime Minister to detail the Government’s plan for skills in the defence sector.
He also drew attention to Government plans for Skills England, asking whether it was right for a strategy for defence skills to sit solely with this new body.
In response to Mr Sollom’s question, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thanked him for raising the skills shortage and stated that while it was the “duty” of the United Kingdon to increase spending on defence and security, increased spending does provide “an opportunity for new jobs across the country”.
However, the Prime Minister did not mention the ‘Skills England’ body.
Commenting after the PMQ session, Mr Sollom said: “While it is encouraging that the Government is working on this, I am concerned that it believes that Skills England, an underpowered and unaccountable executive agency sitting in the Department for Education, is the best way to coordinate such vital skill development, key to our national defence.”
The MP’s recognition of the importance of skills training was recognised by Marshall of Cambridge, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and design company which employs over 1,300 people in Cambridge, 200 of which are residents in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire.
Their spokesperson said: “As a provider of mission-critical infrastructure and support for the UK and many of its European allies, Marshall is preparing to act quickly alongside our industry partners and governments to meet a new generation of emergent needs and help deliver resilience and security in a shifting global and technological landscape.
“Our success in doing this will ultimately depend on our ability to recruit, train, and retain UK talent. For more than a century, Marshall apprenticeships have prepared young people for careers; now, more than ever, we believe they have a vital role to play in growing the UK’s skilled defence and engineering talent pool.”
Full Question and Answer Below
“On Monday, the Prime Minister talked about creating defence jobs across the country as we rebuild our defence industrial capacity. So, will he and the Government bring forward an urgent plan for skills in the defence sector? And does he agree with his education secretary that the strategy for defence skills should sit purely under the department for education and an underpowered executive agency?”
“It is a duty to increase our spending on defence and security, but it also does provide an opportunity for jobs across the country – and that means good jobs, well paid jobs, skilled jobs as he rightly identifies, but also jobs with a real sense of pride. And we are working on that.”
