Budget lacks detail on roads, rail, airports and sustainability
As expected, Covid impact and recovery took centre stage in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s second Budget statement yesterday but there was plenty of reason for the civil engineering industry to be positive about in the announcements, particularly with confirmation of the UK Infrastructure Bank.
The plans for the bank were widely welcomed, however, industry reaction suggests that the lack of mention of roads, rail and airports during the speech is reflected in the lack of clarity created by documents released after the speech ended.
Rail
Rail Industry Alliance chief executive Darren Caplan said: “It is good to see the chancellor clarify a number of the government’s plans for infrastructure, including the establishment of a UK Infrastructure Bank based in Leeds and the £4.8bn ‘levelling up’ fund opening for infrastructure around the UK.
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There is still a gap between Wales and the UK when it comes to the second dose of the vaccine
Mark Isherwood, MS for North Wales
By Mark Isherwood, MS for North Wales Speaking in the Welsh Parliament Debate on the Welsh Government s 2021-22 Draft Budget, I emphasised the need for a recovery plan in the wake of Coronavirus which delivers jobs, skills and infrastructure in every corner of Wales, and expressed concern that this Draft Budget fails to provide the much needed financial revolution required to deliver this. I challenged the First Minister over Covid vaccination standby lists, after receiving reports from constituents of people not in the national priority groups being offered the jab in North Wales, and questioned the Education Minister over educational provision available to autistic pupils whose parents are finding it difficult to home school during the pandemic.
A GRADUATE trainee with Ruthin-based civil engineering company Jones Bros has won a prestigious industry award. Elliot Bidmead, 29, from Ruthin, was named most promising trainee engineer (graduate) by The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Wales. CECA Wales represents 60 of Wales’ largest and smallest civil engineering contracting businesses with a cumulative annual turnover in excess of £1bn and employing more than 6,000 people. The organisation had been due to hold a ceremony to reveal the award winners in April last year, but chose to announce the winners online, after the original event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Elliot joined the Jones Bros trainee engineer apprenticeship scheme aged 17. He initially spent nine months at the National Construction College in Norfolk, gaining a national diploma in construction and an NVQ level 3.
The Cabinet Office has appointed an academic to lead its review of public sector frameworks.
Professor David Mosey of King’s College London has been selected to lead the examination of the existing frameworks to devise a new ‘gold standard’ against which frameworks can be measured, the government said.
Construction News, the Construction Playbook document released last year sets a vision for procurement in the public sector, and included a commitment to review frameworks and reduce the number used across the government.
Mosey, who spent 33 years working as a construction lawyer, is director of the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College. He has been tasked with devising the ‘gold standard’ against which proposed new frameworks should be measured, recommending standard contract terms supporting this and for suggesting training packages to enable adoption of the new gold standard.