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Prime Minister's question asked in the House of Commons, by Iain Stewart (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 7 May 2014 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Engagements

Question

Q8

.

Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con):

The Government are making a substantial investment in renewing and expanding the nation’s infrastructure. There is, however, a real need to get more young people into engineering so that we will have the long-term skills base for these projects. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that this Government will do all they can to inspire the next generation of engineers?

Answer

I absolutely back what my hon. Friend says. I know he has been campaigning very hard to get the HS2 academy to go to Milton Keynes, because there is a vital bit of skills work that needs to be done. [Interruption.] I am sure there will be a lot of competition. The key thing about these investments, whether it is Crossrail, the Olympics or HS2, is to plan in advance for the skills that we are going to need so that we can fill the jobs with British people leaving school and college wanting to take on those skills. Today the Chancellor and the Minister for Schools have launched the “Your Life, Your Choice” campaign, which is all about encouraging young people to get into STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering and maths—and to stay in STEM subjects, because there is a massive fall-off from GCSE to A-level, particularly in physics among young women, and we need to encourage them to go on studying.

Secondary information

Type
Oral question
Reference
580 cc150-1 
Session
2013-14
Oral question type
1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Engineering Young people
Link
View this Prime Minister's question on www.publications.parliament.uk