The government has given its approval to a plan to create a national skills academy for IT.

The academy will provide IT professionals with access to industry-recognised courses and qualifications on technical, business and interpersonal skills.

Development will begin next month, with the academy opening for business in Autumn 2010.

Skills Minister Kevin Brennan said IT skills were vital to the development of the UK as a knowledge economy.

"This Academy will play a vital role in helping people gain those technical and professional IT skills necessary for a better future, both for themselves and the country," he said.

The business plan for the academy was developed by skills body e-skills with a number of private sector partners.

It will offer internationally recognised professional qualifications, new courses developed by employers – who will be able to have their own training accredited, and new apprenticeships to help young people starting out in the sector.

Offerings will range from online, bite-sized courses to in-depth development programmes.

The government and employers will fund the academy for the first three years, after which it will be funded by those paying to do courses.

Private sector employers welcomed the development.

Peter Butler, Director of Learning at BT Group Plc, said the academy will focus UK IT skills training.

"It will bring value to companies of all sizes by making more widely available the type of high quality learning and industry-valued qualifications that are needed to maintain the vitality of the UK’s technology workforce," he said.

Paul Coby, Chief Information Officer at BA, said the skills of IT professionals are crucially important to BA's existing business and future development.

“Almost everything we do in British Airways to provide great customer service and operate a safe and efficient airline is supported and enabled in some way by technology systems," he said.

"So the skills of our IT professionals are crucially important to our existing business and to our future development."

The academy also has the support of Accenture, Cable & Wireless, The Carphone Warehouse, EDS, IBM, Logica, Microsoft, Oracle, Qedis, Sainsbury’s, SFW, Vodafone and Whitbread.