Spending Review Delivers Promises for Growth — Now Industry Calls for Delivery
Posted by: electime 12th June 2025
Yesterday’s Spending Review, delivered by The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
, signals a significant commitment to investing in the UK’s future—through ambitious infrastructure projects, energy transition initiatives, and a strengthened focus on skills and education. Stakeholders across engineering, energy, construction, and vocational training have welcomed the £113 billion investment in capital projects and the planned increase of £1.2 billion per year in skills funding by 2029. However, many stress that the success of these investments will depend on careful implementation, targeted funding, and meaningful collaboration between Government, industry, and the education sector.
Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, commented:
“The Chancellor’s welcome commitment to invest £113 billion in capital projects across energy, infrastructure, transport, and housing will create tens of thousands more jobs in engineering and technology across the UK, over the current Parliament and beyond.
“With this investment will come an increasing demand for skilled engineers and technologists, now and into the future. It is therefore vital that the Government also invests in the education and skills system to support these sectors. The Treasury’s commitment to increase funding for apprenticeships and training to reach an extra £1.2 billion per annum by 2029 includes support for high-quality training for over 1.3 million 16- to 19-year-olds. These efforts are very promising, but must be focused into areas of workforce need.
“To future proof growth, the Government needs to break down barriers for young people from all backgrounds to access engineering and technology careers. The Chancellor clearly recognises the impact of socioeconomic status on opportunity but the need to improve the progression of women into engineering and technology continues to be overlooked, with women making up just 16.9% of that workforce. The forthcoming Industrial Strategy sector workforce plans must not only recognise the importance of early-stage interventions in schools but also drive more investment in STEM education and skills, supporting teachers to bring engineering and technology alive for all their students.
“Whilst the real-terms increase in the Department for Education’s (DfE) expenditure up to 2029 is welcome, recent cuts to the Strategic Priorities Grant, Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme, and Continuous Professional Development funding for science teachers will inevitably damage the STEM skills pipeline. It is imperative that DfE and Skills England focus on expanding entry routes into the priority sectors for young people and work with employers to address critical skills gaps.”
Simon Ayers MBE, Chief Executive Officer of TrustMark, said:
“TrustMark is pleased to hear the announcement in today’s Spending Review to fully meet the Government’s Warm Homes Plan commitment to upgrade homes through energy efficiency measures, alongside installing heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies, such as solar panels and batteries.. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Government and industry to deliver these commitments to support thousands of households in the months and years ahead.”
Kelly Becker, President, UK & Ireland, Belgium & Netherlands at Schneider Electric, said:
“Today’s funding announcements are a major boost for regional growth, transport and much needed STEM education and skills. Yet, the devil is in the detail – we need to see how the funding will be allocated and joined up with the Government’s overarching policy plans for industrial growth and skills to truly understand their effectiveness.
“We particularly welcome the commitment to transport decarbonisation, including the infrastructure underpinning electric vehicles, and significant funding commitments to the energy transition and the AI Opportunities Action Plan. But with high energy costs stalling growth, industry needs support now. We need urgent and decisive action to accelerate decarbonisation and digitalisation. This will be critical to strengthening the UK’s industrial backbone and boosting competitiveness – and it’s possible with policy that incentivises the widespread adoption of existing technologies that can create energy efficiencies.
“In a competitive international environment, the forthcoming Industrial Strategy must provide UK businesses with a clear roadmap for public-private cooperation, targeted incentives and solutions to industry-wide challenges, especially energy costs and skills. This will be critical to securing the UK’s industrial future.”
JTL Chief Executive Chris Claydon said:
“It is positive to see the government commit £1.2bn in skills funding, and while we welcome the continued focus on training skilled construction workers, this must also include electricians and plumbers. The Government’s ambitious transport and energy infrastructure projects confirmed today will require even more skilled tradespeople over the coming decade to ensure these projects are delivered.
As outlined in JTL’s recent report, it is vital that the Government and Skills England move swiftly to address the electrician skills shortage by investing in high quality apprenticeship training with targets for starts aligned with industry needs, reforming apprenticeship funding to recognise the costs of delivering the apprenticeships, and also better incentivising employers to invest in high-quality apprentices.”
