Gemma Peach
Education and Skills Policy Manager, EngineeringUK
Gemma joined EngineeringUK as Policy Manager in 2024. She brings experience from a range of public and third sector positions. These include roles at the former Department for International Trade at the British Embassy in Paris, the Department for Education, and the Policy and Public Affairs team at Middlesex University.
Gemma is focused on shaping education and skills policy that broadens opportunity for underrepresented groups. She supports the team’s policy engagement work to improve pathways for young people into engineering and technology. Gemma also leads EngineeringUK’s policy work in Scotland.
Women in tech, apprenticeships and more for the future
There is never really a quiet moment in the EngineeringUK policy and public affairs team and the last couple of months have been no exception. I have outlined below the things that have kept us busy, as well as some welcome changes in the team!
A new team member
First and foremost, we’re delighted to welcome Joseph Baker-Roberts to the Policy and Public Affairs team. Joe joins as our Public Affairs Adviser and brings a wealth of experience of all things public affairs. He’s already making a brilliant contribution to our engagement. More to come from Joe in future blogs!
Building a future tech sector that works for everyone
Working with our partners at the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC), we recently submitted evidence to the Women in Tech Taskforce. The Taskforce is looking at how emerging technologies are affecting women’s participation, progression and leadership across the tech sector. Our response focused on what more can and should be done to increase the number of women working in tech.
A clear message from across the sector is that emerging technologies are changing the skills profile of engineering and tech roles. Demand for advanced digital, data and AI skills is growing rapidly and extending well beyond specialist roles. The Engineers 2030 project, for example, highlights digital technologies, machine learning, software development and cybersecurity as some of the fastest‑growing skill needs across the engineering workforce.
Despite this growth, women continue to be underrepresented in these areas. The AI Labour Market Survey shows that women now account for just 20% of AI roles, down 4 percentage points since 2020. This mirrors wider trends across engineering and technology, where EngineeringUK’s data shows that women account for only 17% of the workforce.
As technology‑driven roles continue to expand, our response stresses the need to take action so that more women can access opportunities for progression and leadership in the sector. Drawing on EngineeringUK’s Gender Pathways analysis, we highlight the progressive loss of girls from school subjects that act as gateways into engineering and technology careers. This is long before they even enter the workforce.
The NEPC outlines that women’s underrepresentation in tech isn’t just a recruitment issue. It’s shaped by the education and training pipeline, workplace culture, progression, pay, access to leadership role and the support available for women returning to work. These issues need to be tackled together if the transition driven by emerging technologies is to widen opportunity, rather than narrow it even further.
Navigating England’s and Scotland’s apprenticeships systems - project update
Over the last year, we have been working with a range of organisations across Scotland to better understand how the Scottish and English education and skills systems interact.
In particular, we are focusing on how differences between the two apprenticeship systems affect employers delivering apprenticeships across borders. We are also looking at how this affects the opportunities available to young learners as a result. We’ve heard of challenges faced when delivering apprenticeships across two distinct systems. Differences in qualification design, programme structure, funding and delivery models can add complexity and make it harder to sustain clear and coherent apprenticeship pathways.
This matters as demand for engineering and technology skills continues to grow, supporting priorities such as productivity, net zero and economic security. At the same time, apprenticeship starts are falling, skills shortages persist and increasing numbers of young people are not in education, employment or training.
To explore these issues in practice, we brought together officials from the Scottish Government and Skills England alongside employers operating in both nations. Additionally engineering and technology sector bodies and training provider representatives joined the discussion. Together, we looked to identify practical solutions to improve clarity and coherence across the two systems.
Ideas explored included:
- mapping occupations, skills and funding routes across nations
- developing UK-wide, employer‑facing “front window” tools to simplify navigation
- finding pragmatic solutions for small cohorts
- longer‑term exploration of a shared UK skills language
We will publish a short briefing on this initial work. Looking ahead, we will build on this work with partners. We will test what is feasible, strengthen the evidence base and explore what could make a meaningful difference for employers and learners.
Forward look
Gender Pathways blueprint for action
We will soon be publishing our Gender Pathways blueprint for action, written with the support of the Gender Pathways Collective. The paper is focused on tackling the under-representation of girls and young women in education pathways into engineering and technology. It will offer recommendations to address barriers that limit girls’ access to, interest in and enjoyment of the subjects that open up pathways into engineering and technology careers. We’re looking forward to sharing its insights.
Discover our Gender Pathways collective
Small Business Summer
We support the Edge Foundation’s Apprenticeships Work campaign, which aims to encourage more small businesses to offer apprenticeships. This responds to sharp declines in entry‑level engineering and manufacturing starts among SMEs. Starts have fallen at twice the rate seen among large employers, despite SMEs employing 43% of the engineering workforce. We're excited to continue supporting the campaign over the coming months as it evolves into Small Business Summer. This is a new careers campaign led by Amazing Apprenticeships, which will help young people aged 7 to 13 discover apprenticeship opportunities with local employers.
Discover Small Business Summer
The Big Bang Fair
We also can’t wait for The Big Bang Fair in June! Our engagement team have been hard at work to invite inspiring speakers and design exciting activities - all aimed at providing young people with first-hand experiences of STEM. We also look forward to welcoming our industry partners who provide some incredible opportunities for young people to experience what engineering and technology careers are all about.
We are currently seeking STEM professionals to join us by volunteering at The Fair. It’s a great opportunity for STEM professionals to share their enthusiasm, connect with like‑minded people and make a meaningful contribution.
