Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 83
83
Accepted
A further challenge relates to retaining existing staff.
Conclusion
A further challenge relates to retaining existing staff. Witnesses told us that uncertainty about future workloads could lead to staff leaving their roles. John Howie of Babcock said: “There are inherent inefficiencies in ordering a batch of ships and then not ordering anything for four, five or six years. It is hard to retain workforces.”134 Richard Powell of the Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) explained that “[i]f you have that uncertainty because you have been four years on a contract or six years on a Type 45 and so on, and there is no prospect of future work, they will go.”135 Professor John Louth 127 Q42; Q95; Q101; Qq148–149 128 Professor Trevor Taylor, RUSI (DIS0033) 129 Q38 130 City of Glasgow College (DIS0035) 131 Q62 132 Q75 133 Q77 134 Q83 135 Q44 Defence in Scotland: military shipbuilding 31 suggested a further factor that might make retaining talented staff difficult: […] there is a suggestion that many young professionals take advantage of excellent corporate graduate schemes to hone their engineering and scientific skills, then leave at an early opportunity to explore more entrepreneurial leanings rather than being trapped in conventional, non-cutting-edge design, build and maintenance bureaucracies.136 He pointed to research showing that around 80 per cent of individuals who leave the defence sector before the normal retirement date do not return to the sector.137
Government Response Summary
The UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce (UKSST) seeks to address the challenge of retaining existing staff by developing and implementing a future-focussed skills strategy. The UKSST includes representatives from Skills Development Scotland and Scottish industry and intends to publish a report of recommended actions in autumn 2023.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
29 & 30: The UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce (UKSST) seeks to address this challenge by collaborating across Government, the Devolved Administrations, industry and training providers to develop and implement a future-focussed skills strategy. The UKSST includes representatives from both Skills Development Scotland and Scottish industry. The UKSST is overseen by the Department for Education (DfE), with close support from the NSO. The UKSST will work to build a picture of industry’s skills needs and provide solutions to skills shortages, particularly those relating to new and emerging technologies. It intends to publish a report of recommended actions in autumn 2023 in pursuit of the policy goals outlined in the NSbS Refresh, principally to reduce skills shortfalls and to increase reported improvements in the quality and availability of skills.