Editorial

‘Don’t ignore Brexit’s impact on our national digital future’ – CompTIA

Industry body outlines what the next government – whoever that may be, tomorrow June 9th – needs to do to secure a “bright digital future” for the UK

Posted 8 June 2017 by Gary Flood


As the country goes to the polls for #GE2017, global IT industry body CompTIA has made a series of recommendations “to all political parties” on what can be done to secure the UK’s digital future for their next five years in power.

It centres on five proposals the next government of the UK should prioritise:

  • secure cross-party endorsement for key parts of the UK Digital Strategy to give certainty to the country’s digital future
  • digital skills (benchmarked to industry standards) must be a core component of all apprenticeships
  • for a world-class technical education system, the UK must avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach to digital skill qualifications
  • the UK needs collaborative local careers advice that promotes digital careers and local digital job opportunities
  • and finally SMEs must be “at the heart” of the UK Digital Strategy to lead to success in areas such as tech ecosystems and skill pipelines.

For Graham Hunter, Vice President, EMEA, at the organisation, “The digital market has become of vital importance to the UK’s economy [with] 1.64 million digital jobs in the UK and new [such] jobs created at  over twice the rate of the non-digital sector.

“As such, it is important that whichever political party comes into power on 8th June ensures they have a plan in place to guarantee that the technology sector continues to grow and thrive.

“With monumental political negotiations slated to take place as the UK leaves the EU, it is vital that the government takes into account what potential impacts these will have on the digital economy and have the tools and information available to make the best decision for the sector and nation as a whole.”

 

 

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) describes itself as the world’s leading technology association, with approximately 2,000 member companies, 3,000 academic and training partners, over 100,000 registered users and more than two million IT certifications issued.