{"id":67128,"date":"2016-02-01T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=c21d6cc6391b7ec2953c861840e8bd44"},"modified":"2016-02-01T13:50:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T13:50:00","slug":"speech-launch-of-the-rail-supply-groups-sector-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=67128","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Launch of the Rail Supply Group\u2019s sector strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a real pleasure to be here today (1 February 2016) for the launch of the Rail Supply Group\u2019s sector strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This strategy comes at an important moment for the rail industry.<\/p>\n

In the 20 years since privatisation, customer numbers have doubled.<\/p>\n

Rail freight has grown by 75%.<\/p>\n

And our rail supply chain has created the safest network in Europe.<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable achievement.<\/p>\n

More people are using our railways than ever before.<\/p>\n

More even than in their pre-Beeching heydays.<\/p>\n

We have begun a new era of the railway.<\/p>\n

An era in which record passenger numbers are being matched by record government investment.<\/p>\n

To maintain and enhance our existing network, we are spending \u00a338 billion.<\/p>\n

We are spending \u00a315 billion building Crossrail.<\/p>\n

We are building new stations and refurbishing old ones.<\/p>\n

We are laying new tracks, electrifying more than 850 miles of the network and bringing thousands of new train carriages into service.<\/p>\n

And on top of all that, we are on target to start building HS2<\/abbr> just next year.<\/p>\n

For the supply chain, all this means a steady stream of work for decades to come.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a huge challenge.<\/p>\n

But a huge opportunity.<\/p>\n

Now we need the supply chain to pull together and to plan for the future.<\/p>\n

The RSG<\/abbr> sector strategy<\/h2>\n

And that\u2019s what this strategy is: a plan.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the rail supply chain has an agreed plan for how it will grow in numbers, productivity and expertise.<\/p>\n

A plan for how, by 2025, the industry will more than double exports, attract new talent, develop new technology, harness the energy, drive and innovation of the sector\u2019s SMEs<\/abbr>, and become a global leader in high speed rail.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a plan with some great ideas, such as for a rail supplier excellence scheme, to recognise the best firms, services and products.<\/p>\n

Ideas for working with the Small Business Commissioner, to find ways of speeding up payments to small businesses.<\/p>\n

And ideas for creating a Rail Supply Chain Finance Forum, to improve banks\u2019 understanding of the sector and reduce the cost of finance.<\/p>\n

Skills shortage<\/h2>\n

But I am particularly pleased that the strategy faces up to our greatest challenge; the need for new skills, and new entrants to the industry.<\/p>\n

As things stand today, parts of the rail industry will lose half their staff to retirement within the next 15 years.<\/p>\n

And yet for the improvements to our existing network, we estimate we need 10,000 new engineers.<\/p>\n

And we expect HS2<\/abbr> alone to create 25,000 jobs during construction and 3000 jobs in operation. <\/p>\n

If we do nothing, the supply chain simply won\u2019t be able to get the work done.<\/p>\n

As the strategy explains, the skills shortage is already driving up costs and delaying projects, with the cost to government estimated at over \u00a3350 million pounds a year.<\/p>\n

And without action, it will keep getting worse.<\/p>\n

Shared response to skills shortage<\/h2>\n

So I am pleased that the Rail Supply Group will produce a rail skills plan, will co-ordinate a service so people can apply for jobs across the sector, and will support the sector in hiring more engineers, planners, technicians and project managers.<\/p>\n

All this builds on the government\u2019s own \u2018Transport infrastructure skills strategy\u2019, led by Terry Morgan<\/a>, and published just last week.<\/p>\n

Our skills strategy will help create 30,000 apprenticeships in the road and rail sector by 2020, through requiring contractors to either hire 1 apprentice for every \u00a33 to \u00a35 million spent on the contract, or to ensure that for every 200 people employed 5 apprenticeships will be created each year.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s much shared purpose between the RSG<\/abbr> sector strategy and the government\u2019s skills strategy.<\/p>\n

Women in rail<\/h2>\n

But both strategies also recognise that we need more women in the industry.<\/p>\n

Women make up 47% of the national workforce, but less than 20% of the rail workforce.<\/p>\n

In some roles women are hardly represented at all.<\/p>\n

For example, women make up only 4% of engineers and train drivers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a challenge that both the government and the rail supply chain must address together.<\/p>\n

We have already set a target to increase the number of women in the industry in line with the number of women at work in the wider economy.<\/p>\n

And through \u2018returnship\u2019 programmes, we want to make it easier for women to return to work after time out.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s very good news that the Rail Supply Group\u2019s strategy has now committed to raising the profile of the industry and to attracting a more diverse workforce.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

So, in conclusion.<\/p>\n

I am delighted with the publication of this strategy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a clear sign that the rail supply chain is grasping the challenges ahead and that there is great unity of purpose between government and the industry.<\/p>\n

We know where we are heading \u2013 to a future in which railways are even more in demand than they are now.<\/p>\n

A future in which we will have electrified our main-lines, built Crossrail, and finished HS2<\/abbr>, among much else.<\/p>\n

And now, thanks to this plan, the rail supply industry also knows how it\u2019s going to get us there.<\/p>\n

It will be a great journey, and you can count on the government\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rail supply chain now has an agreed plan for how it will grow in numbers, productivity and expertise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67142,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67128\/revisions\/67142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}