Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have for
increasing investment in universities to provide more
opportunities for young people to acquire the skills needed to
expand electricity generating capacity in the nuclear energy
sector, including nuclear fusion technology.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, we recognise the significant demand for skills in the
nuclear sector, which are crucial to reaching net zero. We have
allocated more than half of the £1.5 billion strategic priorities
grant for 2023-24 to support the teaching of high-cost subjects
such as science, engineering and technology, all of which can
lead to careers in nuclear energy. We are also collaborating with
the nuclear skills taskforce, which is devising a plan to expand
and enhance the nuclear talent pool.
(PC)
My Lords, the nuclear skills taskforce estimates a need for
180,000 skilled jobs to deliver 24 gigawatts of nuclear energy
and warns that a shortfall of relevant skills could thwart the
Government’s target. Is the Minister aware of the current rapid
growth in demand for skilled graduates for both the fission and
fusion sectors, and that we are way short of matching supply to
demand? Will the Government support the proposal from Bangor
University, in partnership with the National Nuclear Laboratory,
for the establishment of a training reactor, which could help to
train engineers and scientists to operate in nuclear facilities
in order to produce nuclear medicines and research nuclear
materials and components?
(Con)
I am aware, as are the Government more broadly, of the shortages
and pressures that the noble Lord rightly refers to; he
understands that those are global pressures as well as domestic
ones. I will write to him on the specific project in Bangor, if I
may. More broadly, the Government are absolutely committed to
trying to build this workforce and provide skills; obviously,
examples such as those he gave sound important in that.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend the Minister will doubtless be aware of
the many good examples of apprenticeship schemes serving both the
fusion and fission industries, such as the UKAEA’s Oxfordshire
Advanced Skills centre, Urenco at Capenhurst, Rolls-Royce in
Derby and the Nuclear AMRC in Rotherham. Urenco also sponsors
departments at Manchester University and plans to do so at Bangor
University. However, as the noble Lord, , rightly said, there is a
worldwide skills shortage, with 180,000 job shortages predicted
in the UK alone. All these schemes together will not touch the
sides in meeting the industry’s requirements. What more can the
Government do to encourage young people and teachers to gain the
skills necessary to embark on highly rewarding careers in this
most exciting of industries?
(Con)
My noble friend makes a good point. I share her appreciation for
the organisations that she named. We are investing £50 million
over the next two years to pilot ways in which to increase the
number of apprenticeships in engineering and other key growth
sectors, as well as to address barriers to entry into these
professions. We will set out more detail on that in the new year,
which will, I hope, go some way to addressing her concerns.
(CB)
My Lords—
Earl Russell (LD)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords—
(CB)
My Lords—
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
There is plenty of time for everybody, if we show the normal
courtesies and go round the Chamber.
(Lab)
My Lords, I understand that a memorandum of understanding has
been signed with the United Arab Emirates to provide it with
nuclear technology; if we do not provide it with that technology,
the Russians most certainly will. The technology will be of no
use unless there are trained personnel to mediate it. Do we
intend to train those UAE personnel? If so, where and when should
the training begin?
(Con)
The noble Viscount will have to forgive me; I am not familiar
with the details on that, but I would be happy to write to
him.
(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, to develop nuclear
technology—including fusion technology—we need many more PhD
students working in postgraduate degrees, as well as more funding
for those PhDs? Furthermore, as we are now not going to join
Euratom and we do not have a prototype fusion reactor, what plans
do the Government have to rejoin the ITER—International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor—programme?
(Con)
The noble Lord is right that we need more PhDs, but we need
skills at every level. That is where the Government’s strategy is
focusing, starting in schools and building through T-levels, then
to high-quality advanced levels up to PhD. The Government are
very open to exploring international co-operation in this
area—less on the research side, but the AUKUS agreement was a
sign of that.
Earl Russell (LD)
My Lords, is not the truth of the matter that the UK is not on
track to meet its greenhouse gas emission commitments made at COP
26 only two years ago? The climate emergency is now, and it is
already probably too late to keep our planet below 2 degrees, let
alone 1.5 degrees, of climate change. If nuclear fusion
technology is achieved, it will not arrive in time to save us.
Should our immediate focus not be on renewable energy skills that
can make a fundamental difference to net zero immediately?
(Con)
I absolutely do not accept that the UK Government are not on
track to meet their climate targets. We are ahead of every other
major nation, as the noble Earl knows. We are also doing a lot of
work in relation to green skills. Again, we will publish a green
jobs plan in the first half of 2024, but we have very attractive
green skills offers across every level, from skills boot camps up
to the highest possible qualifications.
(Lab)
My Lords, when I questioned the Minister on skills on 27
November, she replied that the Government had announced £200
million of funding for local skills innovation funds. Are the
Government aware of any examples of these local funds being
available or currently used in the nuclear energy sector?
(Con)
It depends what the noble Baroness means by the nuclear energy
sector. There are some big and strategic employers, and we can
see regionally—in places such as Cumbria, unsurprisingly, and
Bridgwater—that there is a concentration of activity,
particularly in higher education and apprenticeships. If we think
more broadly of the supply chain for nuclear, I can be very
confident that it is included.
(Con)
My Lords, are not the technical nuclear skills that we need
particularly related to smaller and medium-sized nuclear modules
and reactors, of which many other countries are now ordering
considerable numbers? We seem to be stuck in yet another
competition while the order books are getting full. Is this not,
in fact, the key to an all-electric future in 2050, without which
we will not succeed?
(Con)
The Government feel that we have made major commitments in this
area. We committed up to £385 million to an advanced nuclear fund
to provide funding for small modular reactor design and to
progress plans for demonstration examples by the early 2030s at
the latest.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare my interests in the register. The Midlands
region faces particular challenges in this area, with the ramp-up
in AUKUS in the near term, which the Minister referred to, and
future programmes such as the STEP fusion reactor at West Burton.
How do the Government plan to support nuclear skills programmes
in the Midlands, and will the Minister agree to meet with me and
wider stakeholders to discuss how we can work together in this
area?
(Con)
I thank the noble Lord. I would be delighted to meet with him
and, I hope, include the Skills Minister. I am sure we would
learn very much from the noble Lord’s expertise in this area. In
response to his first question, I can say that the Government are
working really closely with the nuclear sector through the
nuclear skills taskforce, which includes representation
from Rolls-Royce
The whole aim of the taskforce is to support the sector to
develop a plan to build the pipeline that we so badly need. It is
obviously excellent to see the development of the Nuclear Skills
Academy in Derby, which is training apprentices from levels 3 to
6. The noble Lord will also be aware of all the Institutes of
Technology bringing together further education, higher education
and employers across the Midlands.
