Hannah Vickers, chief executive of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), welcomed the Prime Ministers’ speech in Dudley, West Midlands today:

“Overall we welcome the ambition, but it needs to quickly translate into tangible action on the ground. The primary challenge we’re facing as an industry is less about “build, build, build” and more about “deliver, deliver, deliver” and while we may wish to speed up programmes and projects, this won’t be possible without business confidence. Communication of concrete proposals gives businesses in our sector the assurances to retrain and reskill workforces accordingly and while the IPA’s recent procurement pipeline was a positive step in the right direction, it now needs monthly updates by Government departments to provide additional clarity.

“We’re delighted to see that, once again, infrastructure and construction’s vital role as a catalyst for a wider recovery has been recognised with a major political speech. We’d also like to stress that in the rush to deliver rapidly we shouldn’t forget society’s Net Zero aspirations, levelling-up through the support of local jobs, and ensuring SMEs have access to Government programmes and projects. However, the Prime Minister can rest assured that we’re ready for the challenge of helping to deliver an economic recovery and in reinventing how we deliver for society.”

ENDS