Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
A shortage of the right skills within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and across the nuclear...
Recommendation
A shortage of the right skills within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and across the nuclear industry remains a significant barrier to progress. In our 2018 report on the failure of the Magnox contract we were highly critical of the lack of skills—particularly commercial skills—in the NDA. There is also a shortage of technical skills in the pipeline. Since then, the NDA has increased its focus on recruiting experienced staff to its own executive team and to the leadership of its subsidiaries which manage the sites on a day to day basis. But recruiting the right skills remains a significant challenge, particularly with the NDA and its subsidiaries competing with the private sector for the same people. It is encouraging that the NDA and the Department are attempting to meet the skills challenge with, for example, the introduction of the nuclear graduate scheme to increase capacity in the sector as a whole. It is also encouraging to hear that 46% of the latest cohort to the scheme were women. The Department says that it has made its own improvements in capacity and capability to oversee the NDA’s activities but, as we often see, salaries in the civil service mean that the Department risks losing skilled staff to private sector organisations in the industry. Recommendation: Within 6 months of publication of this report, the Department and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority should publish a detailed plan for how they plan to meet the demand for skills across the UK nuclear industry over the next 5–10 years.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3: PAC conclusion: A shortage of the right skills within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and across the nuclear industry remains a significant barrier to progress. 3: PAC recommendation: Within 6 months of publication of this report, the department and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority should publish a detailed plan for how they plan to meet the demand for skills across the UK nuclear industry over the next 5–10 years of waste. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2021 3.2 The development and retention of a skilled workforce for the UK nuclear industry is a key focus for NDA and the department, this is reinforced in the Nuclear Sector Deal and in the work of the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG). The department and NDA are both members of the NSSG and the current Chair of the Group is a director of the NDA. The NSSG’s stated intent is to meet the future demands for skilled workforce in the nuclear sector and it has published a Nuclear Skills Strategic Plan, plus an update in 2018 in order to summarize its proposals. This Strategic Plan highlights the importance of developing the right skills in the right place through a partnership between the government and industry. The NDA and the department will continue to work with the NSSG to inform these plans to meet the demand for skills over the next 10-year time horizon and beyond. 3.3 The NDA and the department will work with the NSSG to review the Nuclear Skills Strategic Plan and to assess whether the current plan needs to be updated.