A skills shortage in flood risk engineering skills has prompted the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) to produce an action plan to tackle the shortage. Having sufficient skilled engineers and technical staff is key to successful delivery of flood risk management in the future

'Action on Engineering Skills Shortage in Flood Risk Management', outlines a series of actions with the aim of inspiring school leavers and graduates into careers in flood and coastal engineering and then retaining and developing them.

This joint plan is in response to recommendations in a report commissioned by Defra and the Environment Agency and prepared by ICE. The report identified a shortage of engineering and science skills in the workforce with particular reference to a shortage of engineering skills in flood risk management and a lack of suitably qualified flood risk engineers.

The Environment Agency’s Head of Flood Risk Management David Rooke supports these initiatives. He said: "Having sufficient skilled engineers and technical staff is key to successful delivery of flood risk management. We want to work with the industry and education sector to ensure that our needs can be met against an increase in flood risk. Protecting people from the environment and the environment from people is a very challenging and very rewarding career. "

Exploring a number of ways to work with the education sector and industry to challenge the skills shortage, the Environment Agency, Defra and the Institution of Civil Engineers will work closely together to achieve change. The main focus of efforts will be to:

• Encourage more graduates into flood risk management by providing vacation work and sandwich course placements
• Provide case studies and computer models for undergraduate courses
• Improve provision of postgraduate education in flood management
• Promote skills development in the workplace and other initiatives to help retain staff within flood and coastal risk management

The Environment Agency will encourage the people and organisations it works with to obtain national accreditation for staff training and development, matching its own Investor in People standard.

Underlying all of these initiatives to encourage engineers to work in flood risk management will be an appraisal of salary to ensure that candidates of the required calibre can be attracted to this important activity.