Requiring companies that win government-funded IT contracts to commit to training is being hailed as a “new opportunity to bring together the UK's IT industry and government”.

Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills UK, the sector skills council for business and information technology, welcomed skills secretary John Denham’s announcement following a summit between the government and IT industry held by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills yesterday (21/05/09).
 
The government, which spends nearly £14 billion a year procuring IT services, wants to ensure the money contributes to improving IT workers’ skills.

It is part of a continued restructuring of the skills and training system in the UK that includes making companies who win public contracts commit to investing in the future skills of the country’s workforce.
 
Price said after yesterday’s summit: “We welcome the government's recognition that IT is of immense strategic importance to the UK economy, and the Secretary of State's wish to take a lead in ensuring our IT sector is world class.
 
“The announcement signals a new opportunity to bring together the UK's IT industry and government to help address this important issue.”
And Denham said: “The IT industry is one of the industries which is critical to the future of the British economy and its ability to survive and thrive post-recession.

“We have to make every taxpayer’s pound work as hard as we can. Wherever possible government spending should not just provide good public services, it should also ensure young people are trained in the skills we need for the future.”
 
Price said: “e-skills UK is pleased that it has been asked to work with employers and lead on the development of these proposals.”

e-skills says the IT industry will need around 131,000 people each year for the next ten years and most of these will be graduates. This means one of the IT sector’s biggest challenges over the next decade will be finding the right new people with the right skills for the job while, at the same time, upgrading the current workforce’s managerial and business skills.
 
“A failure to train now will mean that, when the economy begins to grow again, we will not have the skilled workers we need to seize those opportunities that growth presents,” Denham concluded.

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