Overseas STEM talent key to achieving Science Superpower ambitions, say Lords Science and Technology Committee

The Committee has stressed the importance of welcoming overseas talent, expanding apprenticeships and providing support for people to train and gain new skills to address the UK’s STEM skills gap. It warns that urgent action is needed if the UK wants to achieve its ambition of becoming a ‘science and technology superpower’ by 2030.

Some of the key findings and recommendations include:

Immigration policy for STEM talent

• Visa costs for skilled workers and scientists seeking to work in the UK are unjustifiably high compared with the UK’s competitors. The UK should be proactive and competitive in becoming a destination to attract top talent. The Home Office policy that the “user should pay” for the immigration system is not appropriate for highly skilled immigrants who can contribute much to the UK economy and the principle should be abandoned.
• The Global Talent visa is welcome, but the criteria for it are too narrow. It is too onerous for SMEs and other smaller organisations to become recognised visa sponsors for the Skilled Worker visa. The Committee proposes allowing upfront costs to be paid over time, extending the post-graduation work visa, introducing a remote working visa, and expanding the criteria for the Global Talent’s fast-track.

Quantifying and addressing the domestic skills gap

• There is an increasing “missing middle” of people in the UK with technical skills at Levels 3–5. People need to be able to gain mathematics, coding, IT and other STEM skills later in life. The UK needs a better understanding of precisely which skills are in deficit. The Unit for Future Skills should improve our understanding of precisely which skills are in deficit and how the Government’s policies will reduce that deficit. 
• Further education and technical colleges should be more extensively and sufficiently resourced to provide modular courses below degree level that enable workers to retrain or gain new STEM skills.
• Apprenticeships remain a vital component of training a skilled workforce, but enrolment has declined in recent years. Degree apprenticeships should be expanded, and funding should be provided for apprentices to move around the country. The apprenticeship system has no equivalent of the UCAS system and must be made easier to navigate.  

Recruiting and retaining science teachers and educators

• There is a severe, long-standing shortage of specialist science teachers, especially in high-demand subjects like physics and computing, falling short of Government targets. Specialist training should be provided so that graduates of non-physics subjects can teach physics. Pay, continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities, and creating a more attractive career structure for teachers are all necessary to address this. 

The precarity and attractiveness of STEM academic careers

• The Committee welcomes UKRI’s commitment to increase PhD stipends to reflect cost of living increases. The Government must ensure low stipend levels do not mean that PhD research is an option only for those with external means. Careers advice needs to be improved for PhDs and postdoctoral students, emphasising that academic career paths are not the only route. Initiatives that allow PhD students and postdocs to spend time in industry, as part of their training, should be expanded. 

Chair of the Science and Technology Committee Baroness Brown said:

“The scale of the UK’s skills gap has been a long running concern and it is crucial that the availability of a skilled workforce does not prevent the growth of the UK’s STEM industries.

“Throughout our inquiry we found there to be a mismatch between the scale of the UK’s skills gap and the solutions proposed by the Government, which were often inadequate and piecemeal.

“Closing the gap requires aligning the high-level priorities of a number of departments, including BEIS, the Department for Education, and the Home Office. Co-ordination is crucial. Our inquiry identified a number of areas, including visa reform and the domestic skills agenda, which could help address the UK’s gaps. It also highlighted specific, long-standing specific areas of concern for the UK’s STEM-skilled workforce, such as precarity in academic careers and a lack of specialist STEM teachers.

“Without a sufficiently skilled STEM workforce we are hindering the potential to unlock productivity and economic growth or achieve ambitions for net zero, energy security or becoming a ‘science and technology superpower’. Welcoming and valuing overseas STEM talent will be key to ensuring the UK achieves its Science Superpower ambitions – we must be competitive as a destination for top talent.”

The committee has requested a response by Wednesday 15 February 2023.

The letter can be read and downloaded at https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/33254/documents/179987/default/