Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which there is a skills shortage in the technology sector; in particular, in respect of emerging technologies.

The recently published Digital Strategy (June 2022) identifies the supply of digitally and tech-enabled workers, at all levels, as crucial for the UK’s long-term economic prosperity. It estimates that the digital skills gap costs the UK economy £63 billion per year in lost potential gross domestic product. This gap cuts across all areas of the economy and is expected to widen. The department's Employer Skills Survey (2019) identifies that two-fifths of skills gaps (38%) involved a deficiency in digital skills, which includes both basic computer literacy and IT skills, as well as more advanced or specialist IT skills.

Building on the vision of the Skills for Jobs White Paper (January 2021), the department is working closely with the industry to tailor training offers to meet their needs and strengthen progression routes into the tech sector. We are growing the prestigious apprenticeships programme, rolling out T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications, and investing in Institutes of Technology. We have overhauled the outdated ICT curriculum and replaced it with computing and invested £84 million to improve the quality of computing teaching in England and to inspire the next generation of computer scientists. The newly formed Digital Skills Council will provide a crucial forum for developing these interventions, ensuring they are relevant and responsive to emerging technologies.

In addition, the department has established a new Unit for Future Skills to improve the quality of jobs and skills data and to make these available and more accessible to policymakers, stakeholders, and the public. Last month the Unit for Future Skills published new data products on the routes that learners take through education and into employment in different industry sectors (including the IT sector), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/unit-for-future-skills.