Fund worth £30m set to encourage more women engineers

Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock launched the fund, which is designed to enable engineering companies to establish training programmes to develop future engineers and boost the number of women in the profession. £10 million of the fund will be directed to a call to 'Developing Women Engineers' and £10 million to a call to 'Improving Engineering Careers'. A further £10 million will be made available in the autumn to develop engineering skills in smaller companies. The calls have been developed in consultation with professional institutions and leading engineering companies from across the sector. Hancock said: "Skills are central to the UK economy and our long-term competitiveness. In order to allow UK engineering to grow and compete on the world stage we need a guaranteed supply of highly skilled and talented engineers. "As highlighted in the Perkins Review, the engineering sector is currently failing to draw on the whole talent pool. By supporting employers to develop the workforce of the future and bring more women into the engineering, we're empowering the industry to unlock its potential." Minister for Women Nicky Morgan added: "We need to move away from the perception that engineering is a 'man's world'. Without women pursuing careers in engineering, UK companies are missing out on a vast pool of talent."