The government isoutsourcingheavily to help it overcomeIT skills shortages, Cabinet Office
CIO John Suffolk said at a recent conference.
There are 55,000 people currently working in central government
public sector IT and collaborates with between 55,000 and 85,000 IT
professionals in the private sector, Suffolk said at the conference
in Westminster.
He said the industry must take away the geeky IT label to
attract the right recruits. "To do this, I start by telling people
that IT underpins every major economy in the world."
But he said that the younger generation's attitude towards IT
means they can take it for granted and find it unexciting.
"I think we have a job to exlain to people the value we create.
We need to fix this perception and the academic qualification
framework," Suffolk said.
He 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."