What’s the future for the UK manufacturing industry?

I attended the Government’s second Manufacturing Summit on 23 February. Held at the very impressive Bristol and Bath Science Park, the Summit brought together Government Ministers, senior civil servants and a host of key industry stakeholders to discuss the current state of the UK’s manufacturing industry and what the future for this sector looks like. And what an informative and productive day it was!

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg opened the Summit with the announcement of a third round of applications for the Regional Growth Fund with an additional £1bn of public money up for grabs and re-affirmed the Government’s position of putting the manufacturing sector at the heart of plans for economic recovery. His Cabinet colleague the Secretary of State for Business Dr Vince Cable, as well as almost the entire BIS Ministerial Team (only Universities Minister David Willetts was unable to attend) then took delegates through a day of fascinating and thought provoking discussions about how Government and industry can work together to ensure the UK’s manufacturing sector continues to grow and dispels the myth that the UK is no longer one of the world’s leading manufacturers. If you want to read a full de-brief of the day, you can read a note produced by Andrew Harries (BMF External Relations Executive), which is available to members here. We will also publish Government’s feedback on the Summit, when it becomes available.

But to summarise and give you a flavour of my thoughts on the Summit, it was a really successful day for marine and I was able to bring a number of the most important issues our sector currently faces to Ministers and their officials. Issues like access to finance, obtaining the right skills/apprentices and how UK businesses can export more are key concerns across the whole manufacturing industry and I was able to share my views with a range of delegates. Across the range of other sectors represented at the Summit (automotive, aerospace, construction to name but a few) many of the issues were the same and it was great to discuss ideas and potential solutions with some very fine captains of industry. To give you an example, and this is something I was very surprised to learn (as were the Ministers), did you know that nine out of ten manufacturing companies do not employ apprentices? I think the marine sector is an excellent ambassador for the use of apprentices, but we could always provide more opportunities and I welcome the Government’s initiatives to try and make this happen.

The Summit culminated with my sharing the stage with Business Minister Mark Prisk and the Construction, Chemical, Aerospace, and Automobile Sector leaders in a Q&A. Like me, the other panel members co-chair sector councils with the Minister and help bring Government and industry closer together (I sat on the panel as vice-chair of the Marine Industries Leadership Council). While we only had about 25 minutes left for these, we actually managed to field quite a few questions and cover a good number of topics – supply chains, talent retention, skills, a need for consistent Government policies and how we can engage with the young and get them interested in manufacturing.

This was an extremely productive day, especially in raising the BMF’s and industry’s profiles and drawing ministers’ attention to our industry’s needs.  I was particularly happy to get confirmation from the Trade and Export Minister Lord Green that he intends to put together a marine export strategy and will help us address certain visa issues that members have been experiencing. There is no doubt that my opportunity to share a platform with Ministers and industry leaders is recognition of the hard work the BMF does, alongside the Marine Industry Leadership Council, to promote the leisure marine and wider marine industry. Government has stated it plans to hold a third Summit next year and I feel quite sure that we’ll be able to play an important part in that.