Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/796215
NETWORK / 11 / MARCH 2017 SKILLS I t is critical to UK society that gas, power and heat services are delivered to about 65 million citizens every day; the combined energy and utilities sector is also responsible for delivering the majority of the National Infrastructure Plan – the backbone of industrial strategy and the foundation for economic growth. The UK government's Nat ional Infrastructure Plan for Skills covers housing, const ruction and transport, but there has been no such plan for our sector. So industry leaders have formed the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership and developed the first workforce renewal and skills strategy. The strategy will take the first steps towards creating a safe operating environment to secure the right people, with the right skills and behaviours, in the right place, at the right time, at an affordable cost. The energy and utilities sector employs about half a million people. Energy & Utility Skills estimates a further 221,000 new recruits are needed over the next 10 years. This includes 31,000 new jobs, 100,000 vacancies from existing employees who are set to retire and a further 90,000 people who will leave to find new roles. Recruiting to meet our evolving skills needs has not been easy. Some companies have high profiles and find local Short on skills The Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership has launched the first joint workforce renewal and skills strategy for the sector, which it hopes will attract 220,000 new recruits. recruitment achievable, but the sector overall has low visibility, o'en failing to explain the vital nature of the work and struggling to attract school or college leavers. About 1% of higher education graduates enter the energy and utilities sector, with fewer than 5% of engineering graduates employed in it. Retail attracts twice as many science, technology, engineering and maths graduates. With employment at an 11year high and other sectors competing aggressively for the remaining talent – o'en offering higher salaries – individual utilitybased bus inesses simply cannot manage the risks of sector resilience alone. The workforce renewal and skills strategy provides a strategic framework for successful skills provision to 2020, and will evolve as part of a programme of change and cooperation. To get involved, read the workforce renewal and skills strategy on the Energy & Utility Skills website. N Nick Ellins, group chief executive, Energy & Utility Skills Strategic PrioritieS • Priority 1 Increase sector attractiveness to broaden the talent pool, exploring new approaches to talent retention, such as managing the impact on the workforce of cyclical price review investment and working to keep track of skilled candidates who apply for roles but are unsuccessful. • Priority 2 Maximise investment in skills by securing commitment for further investment by asset owners and their supply chain to build a sustainable pipeline of apprenticeships. • Priority 3 Targeted action to address the anticipated skill gaps and shortages that have already been recognised and prioritised by our council of energy and utilities chief executives, including enabling workforce mobility and easier skills transfer.