The All Party Parliamentary Engineering Group inaugural luncheon meeting, 16 April 2007 in the Cholmondeley Room, House of Lords.

Guest Speaker: Lord Browne of Madingley , Group Chief Executive BP plc

Chairman and House of Lords Sponsor: Professor the Lord Broers

Sponsors: Airbus; Bosch; Vodaphone; Rolls Royce

Welcome and Introductory remarks

In welcoming the guests, Lord Broers said that the lunch was the first event of the Group which had been set up following the highly successful lunch earlier in the year to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Brunel. Following that occasion, he was delighted to announce that over 40 Brunel scholarships have now been awarded to young engineers.

Jennifer Bryant Pearson had played a leading part in getting the Group off the ground. The first officers of the Group are: Mr. Bill Olner MP and Mr. Phil Willis MP (Vice Chairmen), Mr. Laurence Robertson MP (Hon. Secretary) and Mr. Stephen Williams MP (Treasurer).

Lord Broers said that the vision of the Group is to promote the role of engineering and the future of young engineers.

For that reason a significant number of young engineers had been invited to the lunch so that they could meet parliamentarians and policymakers. In addition, the next meeting of the Group due to be held on 11th July would debate on how well or otherwise the educational system in the United Kingdom encourages young people to become engineers. The debate will be followed by supper in the House of Commons.

Lord Broers thanked the sponsors, and invited other sponsors to come forward to help the work of the Group.

Lord Broers then warmly welcomed Lord Browne, group chief executive of BP plc, in his capacity as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He paid tribute to the deep and effective personal interest which Lord Browne had shown in the development of engineers and education for engineers over a long period of time, and for the resources which BP had itself committed to that end. He cited in particular the foundation of the interdisciplinary group at Cambridge and at Princeton which were amongst other things contributing considerably towards the development of engineering models to improve significantly the environment and the problem of man-made global warming.

Lord Browne

Lord Browne opened by saying that in his term of office as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering he wanted to emphasise the message that there is no more important or worthwhile profession than engineering.

The issue was how to lift the standards and standing of engineers so that it became the profession of choice for the next generation.

How was this to be done?

To some extent financial recognition was necessary, but was rarely the prime motivating issue.

Status was also important.

However, in his view, the most important motivator for the great majority of people was the sense that what they were doing could make a difference.

He felt that the issue which would be the most significant point of attraction of the next generation was "climate change". It was necessary to tap into the latent energy of young people through engineering. Engineering would provide the building blocks of sustainable development, the example, in the provision of water, power and computer technology: solar power, the use of hydrogen, sustainable bio fuels, and the program for "one laptop per child".

To achieve this it was necessary to start with the provision of subjects in the curriculum of schools which would be relevant.

In addition, engineers should not be regarded as "technicians" as they often were and it was therefore think the necessary to transform the image of engineering as the designers of the future. "Join the greatest profession in the world and be an engineer."

Question and answer session

In relation to a question about the importance of mathematics training, Lord Browne said that although mathematics was a very important element, the most important skill was the ability to "conceive something". There was among the young a very high awareness of climate change.

The idea of "capturing carbon" is an extraordinary project for engineers of all types. He wanted to encourage in particular schools to set up, for example, science and engineering clubs and educational programs; and he wanted society to applaud and celebrate the achievements of engineers. Getting the message across to children was one of the most important challenges of the moment. Lord Browne also drew attention to the fact that there were some 200,000 chartered engineers in the United Kingdom as well as a considerably larger number of "technicians", which in total represented "quite a constituency" for policymakers to address.

Lord Broers thanked Lord Browne for his inspiring message.