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Engineers have called on the government to establish a standing committee for mathematics after a report commissioned by the Engineering Council showed that many students lack the basic mathematical skills required by university engineering courses.

A final report by the National Skills Task Force has also identified maths as one of the six main areas of skill deficiency in Britain.

Trevor Hawkes, a maths lecturer at Warwick University and co-author of the report, blames the steady decline over the past decade on frequent changes to the national curriculum at GCSE and A-level standard.