Earlier this year, MPs on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee warned that the UK will need to more than double its nuclear workforce to meet its target of 24GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2050. In terms of people, this means that between 75,000 and 150,000 new recruits will be needed.
Ms Champion noted her belief that perception towards jobs or apprenticeships in the manufacturing sector had historically made it difficult to attract people, describing this as a “fundamental problem”. She added: “We still need to bring around the parents and the teachers who don't see apprenticeships as the way forward, and that is proving to be a big problem. “We need to be doing much more as a country to attract young people into these high skilled jobs.