IT skills 'vital for UK's future'

UK governments have let slip opportunities to narrow the shortage in IT skills, according to a prominent Labour peer.

Lord David Triesman, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, also said UK governments had not previously fully recognised the nature and scale of the skills problem now facing the IT industry.

Speaking at a Westminster eForum event and referring to non-manual skills such as those required in IT, Triesman said: "I'm not sure the government has been caught out but one thing we have let slip by is by concentrating on the change in the structure of employment and the decline in mainstream manufacturing, we've not been concerned with people at other [skills] levels."

Skills Survey 2007

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Triesman said improvements in IT skills are critical for the UK's IT industry to remain competitive. "We need IT skills, as we are going to earn our living from our brains," he said. "In the 24-hour, global economy, the front and back room may not be in the same part of the world, or even in the same time zone. We need to invest in skills, improve higher education, and provide incentives for innovative knowledge transfer."

According to Triesman, the government has taken positive steps, both in working with partners to identify the needs of employers and individuals, and by working with local employment and skills boards.

He also praised the work of e-skills UK, the government's sector skills council for IT and telecoms. "E-skills has been energetic in driving through a number of initiatives. The Computer Clubs for Girls has been an important initiative. e-skills is also working to develop a qualification framework, bringing together employers and government."

Karen Price, the chief executive officer of e-skills UK, speaking at the Westminster event, said the IT skills shortage is in part due to falling numbers taking IT-related degrees, accompanied by the increase in demand for IT professionals as the industry boomed.

Price said the gap in skills could not be plugged by offshoring and outsourcing, due to the importance of proximity to suppliers for IT projects. "You can't outsource or offshore an entire project," she said. "Proximity to consultants and systems architects [is important]. Offshoring creates growth, which is why hybrid individuals [with both business and IT skills] are needed."

Andrew Herbert, managing director of Microsoft Research UK, said there is a "huge talent pool" in Europe but added it would be difficult to reduce the skills shortage by bringing in workers from outside the EU. "It's quite hard to bring in non-EU people," Herbert said. "It's a challenge getting work permits."

Herbert added that, while large companies such as IBM and Microsoft tend not to have problems recruiting, smaller companies are struggling.

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK