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Government to use its IT spend to help boost skills

Companies winning Government-funded IT contracts will have to fulfil a commitment to skills training, Skills Secretary John Denham announced yesterday.

The government currently spends nearly £14 billion a year on procuring IT services and Mr Denham wants to make sure this spend contributes to improving the skills base of the IT workforce.

The government's chief information officers have committed all Government departments and agencies to look at requiring successful contractors to have in place a development plan for their workforce. The government believes that improving skills across the whole IT sector will ensure the industry can compete internationally and take full advantage of job opportunities that will arise in the future.

Skills secretary John Denham said: "We have to make every taxpayer's pound work as hard as we can. Wherever possible Government spending should not just provide good public services, it should also ensure young people are trained in the skills we need for the future.

"The IT industry is one of the industries which is critical to the future of the British economy and its ability to survive and thrive post-recession. It's vitally important that British business has IT skills to draw on at all levels."

At a summit held yesterday, the secretary of state met the government's chief information officer, John Suffolk, and leading IT industry representatives to discuss how government and industry can work together to promote investment in skills in the IT sector through procurement.

Mr Denham added: "In tough economic times like these, there is a danger that employers will reduce their investment in the skills of their employees as they look to cut costs. But research shows that companies who don't train are 2.5 times more likely to fail than those who do.

"A failure to train now will mean that when the economy begins to grow again we will not have the skilled workers we need to seize those opportunities that growth presents."

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