Chancellor turns up heat on skills deficit
Joined-up services are also focus of Pre-Budget Report
The UK’s skills requirements and joined-up government services are the two main IT-related aspects of the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) announced by the chancellor last week.
The recommendations of former HM Revenue & Customs chief executive David Varney’s report into public service delivery and Lord Leitch’s skills review have been incorporated into the Treasury’s wider focus on education and global competitiveness.
Varney identifies the potential for joined-up services to better meet citizens’ needs at a lower cost to the government. It contains few surprises but makes some specific recommendations:
* The establishment of a single ‘change of circumstances’ service for death, birth and change of address by 2010.
* Improvement of the Directgov and Businesslink web portals to become a single starting point for all contact with government.
* Pursuit of plans for a cross-government identity management system to avoid duplication and underpin personalised services.
Varney’s report fleshes out the Cabinet Office’s Transformational Government strategy, published last year. ‘How joined-up services are achieved will come back to a strong directive from the top, which has been missing in the past,’ said Eric Woods, government practice director for analyst Ovum.
Alongside stretching targets to improve education at all levels, Lord Leitch’s skills report recommends the £3bn-worth of training funding for adults in work, be administered by sector skills bodies, rather than the central Learning and Skills Council.
Technology skills experts say the changes have significant implications for the IT sector.
By taking the government out of the system, employers will gain control of training, says Karen Price, chief executive of eSkills UK, the technology sector skills council.
‘This makes a big difference because it says we need a better shared responsibility between employers, individuals and government,’ said Price.
‘The plan is to give employers more influence over skills systems and in return make a commitment to greater investment in training,’ she said.
Apprenticeships are likely to be a key growth area, says Price. The government is already pushing apprenticeship schemes but take-up has been low in the IT sector because the training has not addressed employers’ needs.
Philip Virgo, strategic adviser to user group the Institute for Management of Information Systems, said: ‘A streamlining of the routes for consulting employers and ensuring training programmes meet their needs is long overdue and very welcome.’
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