IET responds to the Bills announced in the King's Speech, July 2024

Responding to the Bills announced in the King’s Speech, IET Head of Policy Stephanie Baxter commented: “The King’s speech has outlined the right priorities at the right time. It brings much needed focus on strengthening the UK in key areas such as innovation, whilst also ensuring fundamental regulation of fast paced technologies such as artificial intelligence."

We welcome the introduction of the industrial strategy council and look forward to an opportunity to provide key evidence for consideration to cement the UK as a leading industrial nation. We recommend that the council considers key facilitators of success such as resilience, data standards, cyber security and skills. The policies outlined in parliament today must work together holistically and not in silo; a systems thinking approach to delivering changes outlined will ensure their success.

“The IET welcomes the new Government’s inclusion of an Energy Independence Bill. We hope that this will help accelerate the delivery of renewables infrastructure, meet the UK’s Net Zero targets, drive sustainable growth, strengthen energy security and resilience, and deliver high skill high paying jobs to every nation and region of the UK. The £8.3bn investment that Labour have recommitted via GB Energy will contribute to that if it is underpinned by a collaborative whole-systems approach to decarbonisation.

That approach must consider generation and transmission infrastructure, energy demand, skills gaps, the role of alternative green sources such as hydrogen or fusion, and the future effects of the global climate challenge. This will require delivering substantial changes to how the UK approaches the energy system as well as close work with local, regional, and devolved governments. To maximise these benefits across government, a holistic approach to the energy system must be taken, we look forward to working closely with government departments to achieve this. If it is done correctly this legislation can accelerate the UK to the forefront of the energy revolution in Europe. 

“The IET has long campaigned for reform to the apprenticeship levy, to provide greater flexibility for employers, so today’s speech is a welcome step forward in the right direction. A focus on high-quality apprenticeships is going to be critical to ensuring we have skills fit for the future, but they need to be flexible, transparent and industry-focused to work well for all types of business, including SMEs. With 49% of employers saying a skills shortage is holding back productivity and ability to deliver contracts, if the Government wants to see the UK thrive, Skills England must tackle the skills crisis which is holding back not only business, but innovation and net-zero targets.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

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