That is very encouraging. I should have thought that it would be difficult for anyone within the institutions to dissent from the Under-Secretary's remarks.

I turn briefly to the more general and fundamental point for the economy—the problem of the inadequate role of the engineer within British industry. A major responsibility here—and I do not think that this is fully covered in the report—rests with those who design education courses. That is why I was delighted to see the Under-Secretary of State, for Education and Science, in the Chamber today.

It is essential that, in designing the courses, we maintain, or even enhance, the excellence and quality of specialist training. When one looks at top management, one asks why, when the engineer can have such an important functional role in industry, he so rarely has a role at the top level in industry? Why are engineers running departments, rather than running firms? There is a difference here between us and some of our competitor countries. If more engineers made it to the top in industry, that would be the greatest possible inducement to young people in universities, colleges and sixth forms to pursue an engineering career.

As a non-engineer—as an economist—I have tried to puzzle out why people with specialist know-how still fail to make the impact at the top level. I have come to the conclusion—superficial though it may be—that it is a communication incapability on the part of many people who are immersed within their own specialty. They can articulate with others who share that specialty, but they fail to communicate to the non-technical—the people with whom they would be working if they were members of the board.

My hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr. Huckfield) said that one of the problems in this country was that although we had ideas, we did not turn them into marketable projects. That is true. We have the innovation, but the innovator—the engineer—has failed in the necessary role of communicating his innovation to his entrepreneurial colleague who must make the investment decision. Therefore, I suggest that alongside training in their initial degree in their own specialty, engineers should learn the language of industry—of boardrooms and management. They need to understand the language of management accounting, and they need to be trained in business administration as well as in the problems of engineering.

If it were possible to build this mind-widening capability into more of our engineering courses, ultimately it would mean that more engineers would take their places on boards. By the very nature of a board's activities, a relatively small proportion of the decisions taken are directly related to engineers. Therefore, the tendency of a board is to draw on the engineer as a specialist to advise, as and when needed. Thus, the engineer must adapt himself so that he is a valuable member of a board, not just in his engineering capacity, but in the sense that he can talk fully, freely and appropriately on the whole area of activity.