Oral Answers to Questions

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

11. What steps the Government are taking to encourage more young people to consider careers in engineering.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

15. What steps the Government are taking to encourage more young people to consider careers in engineering.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anne Milton]

The national robotics competition must be the subject of young people’s dreams, and I do indeed congratulate Collyer’s. The £406 million put aside in the autumn Budget to improve skills—particularly STEM skills, including a maths premium for 16 to 19-year-olds —will also drive up the interest in engineering.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I am an engineer, and I started my career as an apprentice. It is the year of engineering, but the industry is facing a shortfall of 20,000 places. Does the Minister agree that apprenticeships are a good, cost-effective way to study engineering, and if so, will she tell me what the Government are doing to promote them?

[Anne Milton]

They are an excellent way to study engineering, and I would point my hon. Friend to degree apprenticeships. The first graduates in digital and technology solutions graduated from Aston last year, as did those in quantity surveying from John Moores in Liverpool. We have put aside £10 million to help with the development of degree apprenticeships, which is a brilliant way for young people to get skills.