An Assessment of Skill Needs in Information and Communications Technology

This is the report of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Skills Dialogue undertaken by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) and the sector National Training Organisations (e-skills NTO, EMTA and Skillset).

Demand for professional ICT skills was continuing to expand, for both fundamental operating systems and programming languages and new Internet-related skills, and supply was starting to respond as university output increased and other channels opened up. Skill deficits still persisted, through external recruitment shortages and internal skill gaps.

However, the worst of the recent skill shortage crisis appeared to have passed as demand slowed down and supply caught up. Concern was switching from inadequacies in the quantity to quality of skills supply.