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Engineering skills shortage.

The UK has a widely reported skills shortage in the engineering sector, but is that shortfall best met by skilled migrant workers. It is, according to recruitment specialist Resourcing Solutions, which is calling on those in the House of Lords who want caps on immigration to wake up to the realities of recruiting in this country. Resourcing Solutions MD Richard Lawrence says: “We all understand that we live on a small island, but allowing free movement of all workers inside the European Union, and then limiting the numbers of skilled workers from outside will neither solve immigration concerns or help industry."

Businesses will pay £4.2bn extra tax.

British business faces a tax hike of over £4bn over the next three years as a result of the latest round of fiscal measures , CBI analysis of Treasury figures shows, on top of existing financial demands. For manufacturers, the majority of this comes from the loss of plant and machinery investment allowances. The penny in the pound increases to the small business tax rate (from 19% to 20% last year, rising to 22% in 2009/10) will also deal smaller companies a heavy financial blow.

Becky Silverton writes...

Problem solving in design and production: Who invented the windscreen wiper? It was, in fact, a women - Mary Anderson in 1905. I mention this because the evidence is that whilst men are great at completely new inventions, it is women who are better at solving existing problems. On that basis, I'd argue we desperately need more women in design, engineering and manufacturing generally. .... READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE APRIL ISSUE, DOWNLOAD IT AS A PDF FILE FROM THE LINK BELOW.

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