Babcock International has recruited around 300 foreign welders to work on Royal Navy shipbuilding projects in Rosyth due to a shortage of qualified local labour, The Times has reported.
The shortage has been linked to cuts in college training budgets and the Scottish Government’s decision not to fund a new welding centre.
The company, one of Scotland’s largest defence employers, is currently constructing Royal Navy Type 31 frigates at its Rosyth yard in Fife and operates at HMNB Clyde, home to the UK’s Trident nuclear submarines.
According to The Times, a senior UK Government source criticised the skills gap, saying, “We should be training the next generation of apprentices in Scotland but we are seeing a real-terms cut in further education colleges.” The source added that Babcock’s reliance on “300 Filipino welders” reflected a failure to meet defence industry demand locally.
Scottish Enterprise, a government-controlled agency, previously refused to back a proposed welding training centre on the Clyde because it would have supported military shipbuilding. The UK Government has since said it will fund the project directly to prevent similar shortfalls from affecting work at BAE Systems’ Type 26 frigate programme in Glasgow.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard also said this week that Westminster was exploring ways to invest directly in Scottish colleges to tackle shortages in skilled trades such as welding and fabrication.
A Babcock spokeswoman said that while most of its roles are filled locally, the firm had been forced to look abroad to meet urgent project timelines. “While most roles are filled locally, the specialist nature and availability of the skills required to support our build programme means we may need short-term international recruitment to meet delivery timelines,” the company said in a statement.
The company is also tipped to secure a £1 billion contract to construct four ships for the Danish Navy, a deal that would further expand its order book. Babcock International Group’s shares rose this week, trading as high as 1,205 pence before closing at 1,187 pence, reflecting renewed investor confidence in its maritime operations.
SNP so desperate for Frigate building to fail they’re actively sabotaging it now… people of Scotland pay attention.
Take the work away from the useless Scots then. Their approach beggars belief….
Wa**ker detected, opinion rejected
I’m sure there are English and Welsh welders kicking about. Oh, didn’t the SNP refuse to fund a welding college because they didn’t want to fund defence jobs, which ended up being saved by Westminster?.
I’m not sure how familiar you are with Scottish geography, however the welding colleges the SNP didn’t want to fund very recently is on the other side of the country from Rosyth and it takes many years to train a welder so no chance it was providing any welders to Babcock now.
Scotlands industrial base is full primarily due to the vast amount of offshore wind farms being built while similatnioulsy doing North Sea decommissioning. All of those welding jobs pay way way more than working in a shipyard and Fife and the South East of Scotland economy is booming.
It’s no surprise they need to turn to foreign welders.
There is no where else in Britain outside of Cumbria that is going to have 300 welders going spare and everyone in Cumbria is fully employed.
This is the problem with the boom and bust nature of UK government procurement.
The yard at Rosyth will run out of work in four years so why train lots of people up.
“saved by Westminster”? When?
In September, Labour stepped in to support a welding centre being built by RR after the SNP refused to provide funds due to their pacifist policies.
So is the Scottish position simply anti Union or anti military? Because I thought they stated in the past to have their own tiny navy if they had independence, meaning they want a military and not to be a pacifist nation. Therefore this is not on the principle of pacifism but to sabotage Britains navy, therefore Royal Navy, and willing to make Scottish workers expendable to do so.
The SNP wants independence …..it also wants someone else to pay for it’s defence.
Surely this is nothing out of the ordinary ?
I thought every ship built uses multi national labour 🤔🫡
There was plenty of Polish being spoken in Portsmouth when the carrier sections were being built.
I’ve had dealings with a few Polish, they all have been excellent.
The mistake? Putting all eggs into a Scots basket. This work should have been spread out.
I know a skilled welder, he will not move to Scotland, nor will any of his workmates consider it. Many reasons given, housing, schools etc. Main one? the SNP and their politics.
On the plus side they do have the square sausage in Scotland 🙂
Does he have 300 friends 😂
Not sure if you realise but Babcock won a competition to get to build these frigates against Cammel Laird. It wasn’t handed to them.
Babcock’s bid was significantly better in every metric.
How do you factor that in with your mate the welder getting the job?
Could he have potentially bid to build the Type 31?
Here’s a thought, companies that need skilled workers take on apprentices and train them. It worked beautifully for generations until the modern trend of expecting employees to be born with skills and experience got a grip of recruiter’s.
Training Apprentices is a mixed bag. Many will stay after completion but many will move on. The trick is to have a conveyer belt of both apprentices and work.
Now then, I’m being way too serious this week, things need to revert back to normal.