IT Essentials: Making a Statement

Skills investment has to go beyond the foundational level

The Autumn Statement promised big things for UK tech, but investing in tech without supporting the workforce is a losing proposition.

The Autumn Statement is always a time for the government to assess the impact of its policies through the year, learn from mistakes and set up for success in the Spring Budget.

Or, if you're this government, flail around a bit, bung everyone a tax cut and cross your fingers.

On the face of it, Jeremy Hunt's speech was encouraging for tech. Tax breaks for investment and funding for developing technologies like AI and quantum are welcome, especially as the UK strives to become a sci-tech superpower.

It's when you move away from the parts directly related to tech that the flailing appears. The government clearly knows the importance of upskilling the workforce, but doesn't quite know how to get there.

The announcement of £50 million towards engineering apprenticeships is a good start, but allocating funding is not enough. The chancellor talked about high levels of literacy and numeracy in schools, but focusing only on foundational courses should always only be one piece of the puzzle.

Focusing on schools and operational-level apprenticeships ignores the existing workforce who may want to retrain to pursue a tech career: potentially thousands of skilled, experienced workers with no route into the industry other than accepting a massive pay cut. Not everyone can afford to do this.

To upskill themselves today while still earning a living wage, people are forced to turn to the private and third sector, through organisations like Code First Girls and Generation UK, whose skills bootcamps can fit around full-time employment. But, they're not open to everyone: a good thing for diversity but a bad one for truly expanding the sector.

The government must invest in IT skills in ways that fit the 21st century, like Finland's Elements of AI course and employer training (something companies are still hesitant to offer - tax relief would be a huge boon here). Only in this way can we produce a future-proof workforce and - finally - start to close the skills gap.

In other news

Sam Altman left OpenAI, joined Microsoft and then rejoined his original company - all in four days. Some have labelled the response at OpenAI, where nearly all of the 700+ staff threatened to quit if Altman was not reinstated, a cult of personality; but to our mind, having more than 95% of your workforce on your side is probably just the sign of being a good boss.