Nick Boles, Minister of State for Skills & Construction is Keynote speaker at the CEA (Construction Equipment Association) Annual Conference

The CEA is holding its annual conference on Wednesday 18th November 2015 at the home of the Institute of Civil Engineers at One Great George Street, London. This year’s conference will concentrate on the factors that will make the UK construction equipment sector even more successful – investment in infrastructure, commitment to skills and the adoption of innovative technology – with insights into market prospects and top level networking.
Nick Higham renowned broadcaster and journalist returns again as MC having successfully piloted several conferences for both the CEA (Construction Equipment Association and CECE (Committee for European Construction Equipment).
Keynote speaker at this year’s conference is Nick Boles, Minister of State for Skills & Construction. Mr Boles was appointed as Minister of State jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Education in July of last year. He was elected as the Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford in May 2010 and re-elected in May 2015.
The Minister’s joint BIS and DfE responsibilities include employer ownership of skills, pre-employment and basic skills, and vocational qualifications. Apprenticeships and traineeships are also part of Mr Boles remit which ties in with one of the key themes of the conference. He also is responsible for the Skills Funding Agency which fund skills training for further education (FE) in England. The Agency supports over 1,000 colleges, private training organisations, and employers with £3.7 billion of funding each year.
Heading up the ‘Markets’ section of the conference is David Phillips managing director, Off-Highway Research who will be talking about the Construction Equipment Market world-wide.
Professor Sir Mike Gregory from the University of Cambridge Engineering department and the Institute for manufacturing will be addressing delegates a part of the ‘Skills’ part of the agenda. As will Nigel Baseley president of the CEA & sales director – EAME Industrial Power Systems Division, Perkins Engines.
Bill Quigley, head of Excavated & Bulk Materials HS2 Infrastructure Directorate will update delegates on the HS2 project.
Other key subjects covered at the conference are ‘Fuels of the Future’, the ‘driverless machine, the ‘Thames Tunnel Update’ – speakers to be confirmed.
The conference, in association with Plantworx and Construction Worx, is free to attend for CEA members and guests. Non-CEA members the delegate fee is £175.00 (plus VAT). To register http://www.thecea.org.uk/conference/