A LEADING industrial lobbying group has demanded more be done to bridge the skills gap in Scotland’s manufacturing sector.

Not enough is being done to finance and support schemes that could provide the training needed to grow the economy, says Scottish Engineering’s chief executive, Dr Peter Hughes.

He claimed efforts to reorganise Scottish Enterprise were not moving fast enough to tackle the labour problems experienced by the industrial sector.

“The frustration being felt by manufacturing is fuelled by the fact we currently have within Scottish Enterprise a set-up that is failing to deliver either the appropriate skills that industry needs or offering sufficient support for it to develop and grow at an appropriate rate,” said Dr Hughes.

Plans announced by Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen in March to shake up Scottish Enterprise by splitting off Careers Scotland and floating it as a separate entity were well received by the manufacturing industry, he said. However, the recent lack of movement regarding these plans has led to frustration.

“It made ideal sense to ally Careers Scotland with education, lifelong learning and skills,” he said. “But, since that announcement, I am unaware of any practical steps taken to move this whole scheme forward.

“In the meantime a number of companies have been disappointed to learn that recent pressures and cutbacks in the overall Scottish Enterprise budget have resulted in a lack of financial support for projects which they had been led to believe would be given support.”

Scottish Engineering is working with several member companies to establish a programme offering practical training to encourage more specialist machine shop operators to improve their skills levels on CNC (computer numerically controlled) equipment.

Dr Hughes said, “This is one small project where we have identified a need and are trying to provide a solution. The overall skills shortage—which has not been properly addressed by successive governments—has forced many Scottish firms to seek labour elsewhere, resulting in more than 31,000 east European immigrants coming to Scotland as stated in the latest accession monitoring report.

“Thank goodness they are here because without them we would have been in serious trouble,” he added.

The engineering support group believes that keeping the two areas—economic development and training— apart would hopefully allow the remaining Scottish Enterprise team to concentrate on helping to improve the overall Scottish economy.

“It is also important that the criticism of Scottish Enterprise is not allowed to detract from the important work of the recently formed Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service, currently placed within the Enterprise network,” Dr Hughes said.