Engineer shortage blamed for Highway Agency cost hikes
A senior Highways Agency official this week admitted to MPs that a lack of qualified engineers was a chief reason it had failed to keep a lid on road maintenance costs.
Agency network operations director Derek Turner made the admission at a meeting of the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee of MPs on Monday.
He said that the shortage of qualified engineers and surveyors had compromised the commercial management of contracts. The Highways Agency has lost 50 engineers since 2004 and in March employed just four quantity surveyors.
“It’s right that we should have a handle [on contractors’ cost bases] and we need to do more to have a handle on it.”
Graham Dalton, Highways Agency
Turner was giving evidence to the committee after public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) attacked the agency’s failure to control costs and provide complete accounts for maintenance spending (NCE 22 October).
Turner said that contract supervision had been unaffected by the loss of engineers and surveyors, but that he would “welcome” more engineering staff. He also said that since March, the Agency had increased the number of quantity surveyors it employs to 12, which he said was “sufficient”.
Agency chief executive Graham Dalton added that inadequate information and analysis of contractors’ costs was also to blame for the cost escalation.
“It’s right that we should have a handle [on contractors’ cost bases] and we need to do more to have a handle on it,” he said.
Data shortcomings
Dalton defended the agency’s accounting system, saying data was compiled on a “job by job” basis. He said that maintenance costs accounted for 17% − or £493M − of the agency’s overall budget. But he admitted that there were shortcomings in the agency’s data.
“What we do not have is a metric of pounds per square metre of roads renewal − we know what we’re spending on a project basis but not square metreage,” he said. The agency estimated that resurfacing costs increased at 17% above inflation between 2004/05 and 2008/09.
The NAO said the above inflation increase per square metre of planned roads maintenance between 2002/03 and 2008/09 was 70%. It said the true increase sat between these two figures.
Extra cash for Roads
The Highways Agency said it would spend £400M extra on projects this financial year after receiving a cash injection from the government’s economic stimulus package.
This includes £100M for the A46 Newark to Widmerpool junction improvement scheme − which is now on site after it was brought forward two years.
The agency is also spending the money on ground penetrating radar surveys of hard shoulders ahead of the Managed Motorways programme.
But chief executive Graham Dalton warned that: “There is no additional budget identified for fiscal stimulus for the next financial year.”
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Readers' comments (7)
Anonymous | 5-Nov-2009 10:15 am
Perhaps they should be looking at why they have a shortage of Engineers?
I suspect it is mainly down to salaries that do not compare with the private sector.
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Richard Stephenson | 5-Nov-2009 12:22 pm
Lack of engineers! I am a chartered engineer, currently out of work but with plenty of management experience, over the last few months I have applied for positions with the HA, but have not heard back, perhaps the problem is it takes too long to take on an employee!! Currently, I'm actively seeking work in the south west, so please, if anyone out there knows of any positions I would be keen to hear from them. rds10464@windowslive.com
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Anonymous | 5-Nov-2009 4:58 pm
Two Govt bodies, the FSA in financial services, a regulatory authority that has proved absolutely useless in preventing the banking crisis and the consequent severe knock on effect in our industry; and the HA, whose performance in managing the highway networks is key to the productivity of the UK economy, but whose management has also been criticised, notably its cost management of projects. However, the HA cannot be accused of participating in the near collapse of global economies, just potentially adversely affecting the national one.
What happens? The FSA, having been rubbished as ineffectual and threatened with extinction by the Tories, increases the salaries of its middle management staff (mainly lawyers who are considered by financial experts to be the wrong people to hound out the problems in the banks) to six figures plus and recruits more lawyers guaranteeing nothing by way of improved effectiveness, but costing us the taxpayer even more.
The HA on the other hand continues to pay derisory salaries below £50k to professional engineers, project managers and QSs and, to top it all, now admits it does not have enough of them!
Never mind percieved status, there is little doubt that the UK has got the pecking order of professions and their fundamental economic value very wrong compared to other G7 economies.
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Dipendra Badu | 5-Nov-2009 11:24 pm
I am surprised to hear there is a shortage of Highway Engineers. I am a junior highway engineer having 6 years of experience in highway construction. I am at home doing nothing. As all jobs I applied give no good response.
If you have shortage mail me at badudipendra@gmail.com, we will have a nice chat.
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Phil Bygrave | 6-Nov-2009 9:31 am
I hardly ever make comments on published articals but feel this is a ridiculous thing to come out and say.
I work for a professional recruitment agency that specialise in engineering professionals, the Highways Agency have always had people available to recruit and we have indeed tried on many occasions to contact them with suitable candidates, the problem being their recruitment service is stuck in the dark ages and it is near impossible to follow a simple process with them due to ridiculous policies and procedures.
Their salaries are about the same as the private sector and it is simply the procedures that are failing the company.
A review and consultation of their recruitment policy would dramatically change their shortcomings. In fact contact me and we will provide you with all the engineering skills you need before Christmas.
There are well enough well qualified highways engineers to go around so stop making excuses and hold your hands up.
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Anonymous | 10-Nov-2009 3:56 pm
The shortage will remain and the staff turnover will be high unless there is a change in the construction and consulting businesses paying peanuts to actual technical engineers and incomparable salaries to top tier management. This is not the case elsewhere where the engineers are respected for their skills and not looked on for short term profit.
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Stewart Rotherham | 13-Nov-2009 8:43 pm
The answer to a shortage of Civil Engineers in the HA is simple, and in the HA's hands. Recruit some. Pay them a sensible salary - they don't have to compete with professional footballers or merchant bankers (although that would be nice!). Perhaps more seriously, this could be the beginning of a realisation by clients that Civil Engineers bring something special to the table - the knowledge and understanding of how to make very simple materials do very complicated things pretty reliably, in the situation where every job is a prototype.
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