Recommendation 15

However, the IPA told us that it is already seeing evidence of current and future skills shortages and stiff competition from other countries with their own major investment programmes for scarce skills. The IPA gave specific examples of skills shortages in trades such welders for building frigates on behalf of the Ministry of Defence in Rosyth on the Firth of Forth, and steel fixers for the major civil engineering projects the government is delivering. However, there is also evidence of shortages of supply contractor management teams to fill the demand for contractors, with the same teams bidding for different projects. Saudi Arabia is one example of a country investing massively in its infrastructure. IPA told us that a design company with several hundred designers recently left the UK market to work on Saudi projects. The IPA told us that it is unclear whether the UK has enough capacity to deliver but there are likely to be pinch points, with the risk that increased demand for scarce skills could increase costs. The IPA told us that it is important that government does what it can to increase market capacity and that it has carried out a market analysis of capability and capacity. The IPA told us that it is also important that the speed of government investment matches the development of the market to minimise inflationary pressure.16