Page 27 - Gi flipbook April 2018

16 to 64, reached its highest level
since comparable records began in
1971 – 74.8 per cent. At the same
time, the unemployment rate has
fallen to its lowest level since July
1975 – 4.6 per cent.
The energy and utilities sector
needs to recruit 221,000 people over
the next 10 years, with 20 per cent of
its workforce retiring over that same
period. The sector has a critical role
for the UK, delivering essential
services to 65 million citizens each day
and being responsible for the largest
share of the National Infrastructure
and Construction Pipeline investment
– a pipeline that underpins the UK
economy. The Skills Partnership
recognised the need for collective
action, and has made the case to
show that individual businesses
cannot be left to manage workforce
resilience alone.
The Workforce Renewal and Skills
Strategy, published in February 2017,
outlined the need for collaborative
action. These sector challenges must
be met; failure to secure the skilled
workforce required to deliver such
infrastructure projects could lead to
higher project costs, delays, reduced
quality, reliance on overseas skills,
loss of intellectual property, stifled
innovation and damage to the UK
economy and its global
competitiveness. Government action
on workforce renewal and skills is
and to grow. People, and the skills Therefore, there is a need for needed in order to empower the
those people have, are the key to collective action where policymakers, energy and utilities sector to
ensuring sector resilience through regulators, regulated businesses and maximise its contribution to
their workforce and continued vital delivery partners and suppliers productivity and growth.
investment in infrastructure. must all face up to this strategic The prominence of skills and
The challenge is to create a workforce renewal and skills task. education in the Industrial Strategy
paradigm shift in company reports and report demonstrates that this message
policymaking by integrating this into ENERGY AND UTILITIES is starting to be embedded within
corporate and government thinking, SECTOR CHALLENGES policy. However, the proliferation of
showing the importance of valuing Recent data published by the Office plans, partnerships and boards at a
people and investing in them for both for National Statistics (ONS) places regional level within the Industrial
organisations and broader society. even greater importance on valuing Strategy will mean that co-ordinated
With Brexit taking up much of the human capital. The UK’s labour representation of the sector is vital,
political agenda, we need to ensure market is arguably tighter than at any representing our shared challenges and
that the value of a resilient and point since records began. Last priorities. The energy and utilities
sustainable workforce to deliver vital March, the employment rate, or the sector will need to continue to work
infrastructure is recognised. proportion of employed people aged hard to position ourselves to benefit
from many of these proposed policies,
leveraging the benefits that a
Human capital should not be thought comprehensive understanding of what
human capital can offer to sector
of as an asset a company owns; rather employers and the UK economy. ■
it is the people borrowed from society ■ To download the white paper, visit

who allow our business to operate www.euskills.co.uk/wp-content/
and to grow uploads/2017/11/EUSP-White-
Paper-FINAL.pdf

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