Neil Robertson, CEO of NSAR, was delighted to be among 100 senior colleagues and VIP guests from across the industry last Wednesday (21/7/21) for the Rail Forum Midlands ‘Engaging the Supply Chain, Future Talent Development’ Dinner.
Andrew Stephenson MP and Minister of State for Transport was the headline speaker who emphasised the importance of inspiring and developing the next generation of railway professionals. The closing address was from Neil Robertson, who also urged the audience to engage the workforce of tomorrow, today. He commented after the event, that “…it was great to see the enthusiasm in the Midlands supply chain for properly addressing our skills needs. It was also great for politicians to see it first hand.”
Other attendees included companies such as Alstom, Porterbrook and SNC Lavalin as well as many SMEs from across the sector who understand the importance of supporting young people through education into careers. Everyone was invited to pledge their support to the agenda by signing a ‘pledge board’. Both the Department for Transport and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy confirmed their support.
Organisations were also encouraged to sign up to the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code which aims to promote collaboration across sectors on STEM engagement.
Rail Forum Midlands informed the audience about the Primary Engineer Rail programme to be launched in some junior schools together with an updated iRail secondary school offer which includes a series of rail themed lessons and asked for support from the sector to be able to roll this out further.