Skills policy is becoming more local. What does that mean for MPCE?
The way skills are funded and planned in England could be about to change again.
The Government is preparing proposals to give mayors greater control over 16 - 19 education funding, including classroom-based qualifications in colleges. Apprenticeship funding for 16–18-year-olds, however, would remain nationally controlled, with further changes to the Growth and Skills Levy also possible.
More detail is expected alongside the autumn Budget.
For medical physics, clinical engineering and technology, this is worth watching. We often talk about our workforce challenges nationally, but some of the decisions that influence the supply of skills may increasingly be made closer to home.
National professions, regional skills systems
MPCE doesn't have a single workforce pipeline.
People enter and move through our professions via universities, apprenticeships, NHS training routes, industry and other technical and professional pathways. Employers also operate in very different local labour markets.
That makes the balance between national and regional policy important.
National frameworks remain essential for professional standards, education and training. But greater devolution could give regions more influence over which skills they invest in and how colleges, universities and employers work together.
For MPCE, the question is whether our professions are sufficiently visible in those discussions.
The same skills are in demand elsewhere
This isn't happening in isolation.
Other sectors are organising around their workforce needs. A new Infrastructure Skills Council involving Heathrow, Make UK and others will look at how major infrastructure projects can support skills and employment. Heathrow alone is proposing 5,000 apprenticeships, traineeships and other entry-level opportunities. Make UK joins new Heathrow Infrastructure Skills Council addressing NEETs crisis | Make UK
That is relevant to us because many of the skills they need are also important to MPCE.
Clinical engineering and medical physics increasingly need people with expertise spanning engineering, digital technology, data, equipment, innovation and increasingly AI. Industry needs many of the same people, as do universities and research organisations.
The competition isn't simply between individual employers within MPCE. It is with the much wider economy.
Building stronger local connections
There may also be an opportunity here.
Research highlighted by the Social Mobility Commission found that some young people had qualifications and ambition but struggled to find opportunities that matched their skills locally. It argues for approaches better rooted in local circumstances.
For our community, stronger local connections between NHS services, universities, colleges and industry could help on both sides of that equation.
They could make routes into MPCE more visible, give students and trainees a better understanding of the range of careers available locally, and help education providers understand where employers need people and skills.
There is no reason this should stop at traditional training routes. Work experience, placements, apprenticeships, joint academic-industry initiatives and movement between healthcare, academia and industry can all contribute.
Making MPCE visible
Government has also announced £22.5 million to expand enrichment activities in more than 400 schools in disadvantaged communities, including engineering clubs.
That might seem some distance from the immediate workforce pressures facing MPCE, but visibility matters.
A young person interested in physics, engineering, computing or technology is unlikely to choose a career in medical physics or clinical engineering if they have never heard of it.
That is something all parts of our community can help change.
For IPEM, the policy shift is therefore one to watch. We need strong national routes into our professions, but as more decisions about skills are taken regionally, we also need MPCE to have a voice in the places where those decisions are being made.