On Wednesday, representatives from Rolls Royce met with Mansfield MP Ben Bradley in the House of Commons. During the meeting they discussed the opportunities the recent STEP Fusion announcement presents for the region as well as how best to grow the East Midlands economy.
Last week the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Jacob Rees-Mogg announced that North Nottinghamshire will be the location for a revolutionary new STEP Fusion reactor. This reactor will help to progress fusion technology and help fusion and Nottinghamshire become a central part of the UK’s energy makeup in the future.
In light of this announcement, Rolls Royce met with Ben to discuss the opportunities to grow the clean energy sector in Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands. A key company for the East Midlands with over 12,600 employees based in the East Midlands, Rolls Royce were keen to hear more details about the STEP Fusion project, as well as other revolutionary clean energy projects in the East Midlands.
As a company with approximately 64% of their workforce based in the East Midlands, Rolls Royce and Ben also discussed opportunities to develop STEM career paths for people through effective skills funding. As part of the revolutionary East Midlands Devolution Deal, the local authority will have more powers on building skills in the region and more funding to run training programmes. Because of this, Rolls Royce were keen to put across how they as a business see skills funding working for the region and how this can help grow the East Midlands economy and provide opportunities for local people.
Commenting, Ben stated:
‘It was a pleasure to meet Rolls Royce in Parliament earlier today to talk about the recent announcement for our region on STEP fusion. This is a game-changing announcement for our region which can help transform not only our local economy here in North Nottinghamshire but also the energy supply for the whole country meaning Nottinghamshire can again lead the way in energy generation in the country.’
‘I was really encouraged to hear about Rolls Royce’s enthusiasm for the STEP Fusion project and how they can support the project moving forward. We also discussed other key clean energy projects for our region and how we can help our region lead the way in clean energy generation for the future.’
‘A key aspect of the conversation centred around careers and how we make sure the workforce in the East Midlands are equipped with the skills for the careers of the future. As part of our ground-breaking East Midlands Devolution Deal we will have a lot more power and funding to plan out skills training locally. It is vital that this funding is put to good use and it was really helpful to hear from Rolls Royce on where they see skill gaps in the market.’
‘I’d like to thank Rolls Royce for giving me their time and I look forward to helping progress those key projects for our region.’
