The government isoutsourcingheavily to help it overcome IT skills shortages, Cabinet
Office CIOJohn Suffolksaid at a recent
conference.
He said at the government IT conference in Westminster this week
that there are 55,000 people currently working in central
government IT. But he said the government also collaborates with
between 55,000 and 85,000 IT professionals in the private
sector.
He said the IT industry must attract more people due to the
skills shortage, "We have got a lot of work to do to take away
the geeky IT label. To do this, I start by telling people that IT
underpins every major economy in the world."
But he said the younger generation's attitude towards IT means
they can take it for granted and find it unexciting.
"This generation has grown up with technology. They see it as
being as exciting as electricity. I think we have a job to explain
to people the value we create. We need to fix this perception and
the academic qualification framework."
Suffolk said government "balances the risk" by outsourcing and
relying on the global labour market. But, he said, "We have to
continue to grow the capacity in the UK."