Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Career developmentLatest NewsEconomics, government & businessLearning & developmentSkills shortages

Employers pledge £2.4bn to developing staff IT skills

by Michael Millar 21 Jun 2005
by Michael Millar 21 Jun 2005

Employers have promised £2.4bn to train staff in IT skills in an attempt to close the UK’s productivity gap with France, Germany and the US.

The investment will form part of a three-year action plan launched last week by the employer-led organisation for IT skills development, E-skills UK.

Cisco Systems, IBM, British Air-ways (BA) and Ford are among the employers which have pledged money for the Sector Skills Agree-ment for IT (SSA).

BA’s chief information officer Paul Corby said the amount of investment was “staggering”.

“We are well aware of the skills shortages in the industry,” he said. “The agreement will ensure investment in IT skills development delivers maximum benefit.”

The SSA aims to improve competence by implementing three key initiatives:



  • A vocational qualification, ITQ , aims to boost the skills of staff who use IT in their day-to-day jobs.
  • The first ever IT employer-designed degree – the Information Technology Management for Bus-iness honours – will be launched in four universities in September. It will be rolled out to 17 more universities before 2008, and to 1,000 undergraduates each year.
  • An out-of-school programme called Computer Clubs for Girls   will be set up to encourage 150,000 girls, aged 10-14, to consider a career in IT.

Currently, only one in five IT professionals in the UK are women.

The plan has been broadly welcomed by employers, but chancellor Gordon Brown has been urged to support the initiative by cutting red tape.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Rod Flavell, chief executive of IT recruitment and training firm FDM, said: “It’s a great idea, but the devil is in the detail and we have to understand how it’s going to work in a framework of very bureaucratic legislation.”

 

Michael Millar

previous post
Happiness stats prove that HR needs to look after itself
next post
Public sector executive pay up 9.5%

You may also like

Gender pay gaps narrow in 2024-25

17 Jul 2025

UK job vacancies fall to a 10-year low

17 Jul 2025

Zero-hours employees may have to request guaranteed hours

17 Jul 2025

RAD Awards 2026 open for entries

16 Jul 2025

Sick pay reforms ‘deliver £2bn of benefits’ –...

16 Jul 2025

Trans row nurse cleared of misconduct as tribunal...

16 Jul 2025

Hugh’s Law calls for paid leave for parents...

16 Jul 2025

Inflation increases by more than expected

16 Jul 2025

Beware the unintended consequences of the NDA ban

16 Jul 2025

Number of police working second jobs doubles

15 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+