After 50 minutes of soporific buzz words and statistics,
it became clear that, for IT at least,Alistair Darling's Budgethad very
little to offer.
There were a couple of nods to technology. Congestion charging
initiatives and plans to trial
biometrics at Heathrow could kick-start some major IT
investments. And the government's plans to require businesses to
make buildings carbon neutral by 2019 could create difficulties for
datacentre managers.
But for most IT professionals, the Budget was a missed
opportunity.
Any hopes that the tax breaks for research and development
announced by Darling would cut the cost of
software development were quickly dashed. Accountants point out
that what the chancellor is giving with one hand, the government
plans to take away with the other, by taxing research projects when
they lead to products.
Many were hoping that Darling would use the Budget to support
businesses tackling
computer crime. The problem costs the economy billions of
pounds a year, and the fear of e-crime is deterring many people
from buying online.
The police and industry have been calling for funding for an
e-crime unit to replace the now defunct National Hi-Tech Crime
Unit. A signal that the government planned to support the new unit
would have won Darling much admiration.
But the greatest omission was the failure to address the UK's
lamentable performance in training and developing IT
professionals.
Organisations such as E-Skills UK have done much to improve IT
courses in universities, but they have been unable to stem the
decline in the number of young people entering the IT profession.
With few employers giving training for IT staff the priority it
needs, the UK is heading towards an IT training crunch.
The chancellor could have reversed the decline by announcing
sorely needed tax breaks for training, for companies and for
self-employed contractors. Without them, the UK faces a struggle to
compete with the highly trained IT professionals in places such as
India, where tax breaks for training are taken for granted.