Make skills a top priority, Brown urged

The IT profession has urged the new prime minister to introduce incentives to encourage employers and IT professionals to invest in training a skilled IT workforce.

Nick Kallisperas, director for delivery at IT suppliers association Intellect, said skills should be top of Gordon Brown’s agenda. He said it was fundamental to ensure that the graduates coming out of the academic system have the skills to meet businesses’ needs.

Philip Virgo, strategic adviser at the Institute for the Management of Information Systems, said he hoped that Brown would give more weight to E-Skills UK, the joint public/private sector IT skills body, in formulating government policy.

Elsewhere, the Institute of Directors called on Brown to devote more resources to fighting e-crime. “More effort needs to be put into security products and incentives for ISPs to stop the criminals,” it said.

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