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Carillion focuses on 14-16s in Your Life campaign

Carillion is one of eight major employers backing the Your Life campaign, which aims to increase the number of young people, particularly girls, studying science, physics and maths at A-level.

The three-year campaign was launched yesterday by education secretary Nicky Morgan. It aims to increase the number of A-level entries in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects by 50% in the life of the campaign.

Currently, just 8% of girls take A-level maths and 2% opt for A-level physics, but studies show that pupils who study maths to A-level will earn 10% more over their lifetime.

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Carillion is the lead corporate partner for construction and the built environment, and has committed to developing a tailor-made “introduction to engineering and technology for girls” module for local schools in the west midlands, increasing its reach year on year over a five-year period.

The campaign was launched by education secretary Nicky Morgan

Your Life has cross-government support and is led by a board of directors chaired by Edwina Dunn, founder of customer science company dunnhumby. She will be supported by a corporate advisory board made up representatives from the eight companies, including Carillion.

The other major employers joining the board are BAE Systems, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Rio Tinto, Shell and Visa, which will work to ensure all activity directly correlates to real recruitment needs.

The campaign has also received the backing of more than 200 business organisations, including Arup and Laing O’Rourke, which have pledged to offer their support to young people interested in pursuing a career in STEM.

Speaking at the launch event, chief executive Richard Howson said: “We welcome this campaign as part of a drive to ensure that young people are equipped with the science and maths skills the country requires to maintain its competitive edge on a global level. We also see thus as an important part of our long-term strategy to help develop the skills that will enable our business to success in 10 years’ time.

“We know that over the next five years the construction section will grow by 2.2% annually, creating 182,000 new jobs across the sector. We need talented people who have STEM skills to fill these roles.”

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Carillion employs more than 40,000 people, including more than 18,000 in the UK. It is one of the UK’s largest employers of construction apprentices, with up to 2,000 apprentices in training at any one time.

In separate commitments, it has undertaken to improve the retention of women engineers, by setting up a network of support for women in operational roles. This will be called Project SNOWE, or the Support Network for Operational Women Engineers.

It will also commit to increasing the number of women in apprenticeships to 5% over the next five years.

Janet Dawson, group HR director, said: “We recognise that the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our people help us to think differently and meet the needs of our customers and the communities we serve more effectively. As part of this, we are committed to supporting the recruitment, retention and development of female engineers to enable us to harness their talents and skills to support the ongoing success and development of our business.”