Master, Wardens, visiting Masters, Distinguished guest, L&G

From the point of view of your guests Master, the evening has been very far from that. This is a very special evening for us all to attend, a wonderful venue, excellent food, and convivial company.

An evening where the Company recognises engineering excellence in all its forms. What inspirational winners…congratulations! Recognition given in the very best traditions of the livery- which prizes education highly both as a driver of excellence, and as an aid to social mobility and inclusion. Indeed, the livery have been operating apprenticeships from the early 12th century, formed the City and Guilds organisation in 1878, and today has a whole smorgasbord of educational initiatives like the livery schools link and the livery companies’ skills council, let alone the £40m+ and over 230k hours of pro bono support given to education you mentioned earlier Master

But let’s not be complacent. The plain facts are that we still have an education system, which although we spend higher than the OCD figure of around 5% of GDP, after 14 years of education costing some £100k, still turns out about 18% of pupils without substantive qualifications at level 2 (= receptionists & care workers)

Master, your theme “Challenging boundaries”, originally conceived to provide a platform for discussing the impact of highly innovative technology on our society, could not be more apposite to the new threats we now face into.

Post Brexit and largely post Covid, the West is now having to reflect deeply on the impact of the unconscionable war in the Ukraine …on energy security, on food security, the impact on technology of Ukraine being the principal source of neon gas so necessary for the production of lasers and micro-chips, of the return of that old value killer… inflation; …the need for a complete review and increased funding of defence forces;… and of course the collective impact on any prospect of moving towards a more sustainable future. 

As the ancient Chinese curse goes “May you live in interesting times!”

These are complex problems requiring practical solutions. I for one am convinced we need many more engineers of the calibre recognised tonight to be part of that solution. And here we face a national skills shortage.

Engineering and manufacturing are a cornerstone of the UK economy, generating 21.4% (£1.2 trillion) of the UK’s £5.7 trillion GDP in 2018, and employing some 18% (some 5.5m) of the workforce.

Yet, despite having 165k engineering graduates a year, this critical industry faces a shortfall of some 60,000 in meeting the annual demand for core engineering roles:

  • Half (49%) of companies claim a lack of skills available in the external labour market
  • and 45% skills gaps within their internal workforce. 71% of this is in engineering

#The engineering industry has also been plagued by an outdated image of spanners and dirty overalls for decades. I for one am astonished that in Parliament we only have 26/650, graduates in the STEM subjects… only 6/650 in engineering! Whilst it is encouraging that two of these were in the current contest for the leadership of the conservative party – surely, we need to improve that overall number in our elected representatives.

#Another sticking point has been the lack of diversity within the engineering industry. Only 1/3 of companies have taken action to improve the diversity of their workforce

#Finally, this skills shortage is exacerbated by the impending retirement of an aging workforce. 19.5% of engineers currently working in the UK are due to retire by 2026, leaving a skills, knowledge and experience gap.

Master, it is against this background, we your guests applaud tonight’s celebration of both the excellence within the profession, but also the excellence of the profession as a meaningful, enjoyable, and worthwhile career for people upon which the future of our country materially depends.

Thank you!

Ladies and Gentlemen please join me in a toast: The Worshipful Company of Engineers – may it flourish, root and branch, forever.