Utility Week

22 | 6TH - 12TH MARCH 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets larly in customer service, regulation, legal, all those departments that aren't necessarily engineering based, would be looked at. "They [industries signi cantly impacted by the changes] have no choice but to come and nd the people who are good with con- sumers, good at negotiation, good at over- coming objections, good at complaints and with emotional intelligence. They'll have no choice but to focus on other sectors and we'd be one of those sectors. If that's the way that the new rules work, utilities will come under even more pressure to see the sta• they've got retained." Similar concerns have emerged from the infrastructure sector. Reisner said: "With an economy that is close to full employment, it is unclear where industry will be able to recruit from for roles that do not ful l these new criteria from the domestic market in the immediate future. "In addition, many SMEs [small and medium-sized businesses], which make up the vast majority of the UK's construc- tion industry, will now have to sponsor new entrants for the rst time, working in an unfamiliar system. "We believe further work needs to be done to ensure that industry is prepared for this new system, and to guarantee that employers in the infrastructure sector will be able to recruit new entrants at a su‡ cient rate to deliver the forthcoming 'infrastruc- ture revolution'." Ellins believes the real question follow- ing this week's announcement is what this month's Budget will bring. Only then will it become apparent what the full impact of the government's post-Brexit policies will be. But what can we expect from Ž edgling chan- cellor Rishi Sunak's inaugural Budget? Infrastructure, believes EUS, is going to be the "golden egg" of the economy and it expects the government to roll out one of the biggest ever infrastructure programmes. Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastruc- ture Commission (NIC), recently called on ministers to take a "golden moment of oppor- tunity" to make rm decisions on developing sustainable infrastructure beyond HS2 and accelerate existing planned projects as part of the government's forthcoming National Infrastructure Strategy. Of the £600 billion National Infrastruc- ture Plan, which was last updated in 2015, the utility sector is the largest single ben- e ciary. Underlining its importance in a speech to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure, Sir John said: "At present, there is an insu‡ ciently joined-up approach to infrastructure skills development in the UK, with a wide range of responsible bod- ies operating across di• erent geographic and political boundaries. The human capital aspects of the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills need to be refreshed to help ensure our pipeline of future workers is adequate for the challenges ahead." Echoing his words, Ellins said the plan, is "badly out of date" and disconnected from the reality of the constricted labour market. Instead, he says, the Budget has room to give the utilities labour market the boost its importance warrants by diverting unused funds from the Apprenticeship Levy to where skills gaps are. For Ellins, it's a case of ensuring the sec- tor's own house is in order before taking action. He laments the fact that government bodies such as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural A• airs (Defra) have not included pro- visions for human capital in their strategic policy statements. "Not one sponsoring department in the UK or the utility sector, BEIS, Defra and their equivalent bodies, put anything about human capital and ensuring it in their stra- tegic policy statements. If they did, they wouldn't have to create policy; they just need to mention it, and everyone who works for that department would do it. "Ofwat and Ofgem have already put work- force resilience as a requirement into the PR19 and RIIO2 processes so it's a require- ment of all business plans that they must be resilient for ve years, plus ten. The unions have been pushing this point for a long time, about skilling up the workforce, ghting back against other sectors to make sure the utility sector has the best chance of winning the talent that is available in the UK." There is also the question of salaries, with the general threshold for migrants being set at £25,600. Yet according to Ellins, the big issue still lies with poaching. He says compa- nies are more likely to have a problem nding a worker with enough industry knowledge to suit their needs and will therefore look to other UK companies to poach©talent. Immigration was a key issue in the debate about the UK's future with the European Union and it is evident the government believes its new points-based immigration proposals reŽ ects this. That said, it's clear that before we can fully assess the impact the new rules will have on the utilities sector, next month's all-important Budget will be crucial and will outline the scale of the coun- try's forthcoming infrastructure projects. Adam John, reporter, Utility Week "We are at the absolute peak of restriction in the labour market: employment is at the highest levels ever and unemployment is at the lowest ever." Nick Ellins, chief executive, EUS "At present, there is an insuffi ciently joined-up approach to infrastructure skills development in theUK." Sir John Armitt, chair, National Infrastructure Commission Analysis continued from previous page

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