Skills for transport manufacturing

Status / emerging findings

• Aerospace has 9,000–10,000 open vacancies; automotive faces 7% production-level vacancy rate vs 3.4% national average; rail sector needs 2,000 fitters immediately with average worker age 47.
• Manufacturing apprenticeship starts down 42% in under a decade; colleges lack capital equipment funding to train workers in advanced technologies (AI, automation, net zero transition).
• Major employers (Alstom, Hitachi, Siemens, Airbus) systematically underinvest in skills, rely on lean staffing and outsourcing; rail infrastructure workers 90% on zero-hours contracts, blocking skill development.
• Systemic barriers prevent inter-sector worker mobility: GDPR restrictions prevent firms sharing rejected candidates with supply chains; qualification-based rather than competency-based hiring locks out transferable talent.
• Skills England (operational June 2025) has identified 49,000 manufacturing vacancies but lacks directive power; Airbus paying apprenticeship levy in Wales but unable to spend it there creates devolution deadlock.

Why it matters

Without solving skills gaps in the next decade, the UK risks losing manufacturing capacity to competitors precisely when the transition to electric vehicles, hydrogen aviation, and rail electrification offers once-in-a-generation growth.

Tone arc

Opened diagnostic and cooperative; shifted sharply critical after union testimony (November 2025 session) which revealed systematic underinvestment by major employers and fragmentation undermining long-term planning. Government officials acknowledged constraints but lacked concrete remedies.

Key witnesses

Sarah Maclean CBE (Skills England), Lilian Greenwood MP (Minister for Transport), John McGookin and Eddie Dempsey (National Union of Rail; RMT), Oriel Petry FRAeS (Airbus UK), Matthew Ogg (aerospace sector representative), Tom Chant MBE (maritime sector), Jamie Cater (general manufacturing)