IT pros in need of more training, says survey

More evidence has emerged that UK companies are facing a shortfall of IT skills, with many IT pros failing to be offered suitable training.

E-Skills UK, an organisation that monitors the UK's information and communications sector, published its latest bulletin late last week. The report, which covers the second quarter of 2006, found 17 per cent of UK companies believe their existing employees suffer from a lack of IT skills.

More worryingly, 11 per cent of companies surveyed reported that their ICT staff also lack some key skills, compared to five per cent at the end of 2005.

E-Skills UK reported: "In general, medium to large establishments were the most likely to report having skills gaps (whether general, user- or IT professional-related), while by sector it was services organisations that most commonly stated this to be the case (in general terms and for user skills, though ICT firms were more likely to have gaps in the skills of their ICT professionals)."

The report also found a decline in the number of IT professionals who received any job-related training, from 31 per cent to 29 per cent.

Better news for IT staff is that around 17 per cent of companies said they are expecting to hire IT staff soon.

The full report can be seen on E-Skills UK's website as a PDF file.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK