Election must not risk UK’s digital strategy 

TechUK and the IET have called for a reinforcement of the current focus on skills and digital innovation after June’s snap general election.

“Tech businesses will be looking to the UK’s political parties to set out clear plans for how they intend to support economic stability and to keep the UK at the forefront of global technological innovation and digitisation,” said Julian David, CEO of techUK.

Professor John Perkins, chair of the IET’s skills panel said: “The Brexit vote and the snap general election being called provides the ideal opportunity to highlight the engineering skills shortage in the UK head-on and hear how the political parties would tackle it.

“We need to see commitment that the government’s industrial strategy, which included boosting STEM skills as one of its 10 pillars, has support over the long term to ensure a pipeline of future engineering talent.”

Haydn Povey, cybersecurity specialist and CEO of Securethingsz, says the next government must remove any uncertainty in the aftermath of Brexit.

“There is the possibility of projects stalling due to uncertainty in the marketplace, and hence the Government must move as swiftly as possible to deliver clarity of how UK and European companies can trade, collaborate, and lead global efforts, especially around cybersecurity,” said Povey.

The government should move to support innovation and development of the UK start-up and cybersecurity domains.

“The UK holds an enviable position in these domains but any move away from inclusion in European projects, such as H2020, needs to be replaced by more aggressive funding at a national level,” said Povey.

On Brexit David said: “This election comes at an extraordinarily important time for the UK’s digital economy.”

The eventual Brexit deal is expected to have a signi cant impact on the tech sector, as it is closely integrated with the rest of Europe in terms of trade, legislation and research.

TechUK has outlined concerns about a sudden exit from the customs union, leading to increased delays for goods in transit and new contractual obligations on tech companies which could cause interruptions in supply chains.

Ben Hall, managing consultant at recruitment consultancy, MRL Group, said the election provides an opportunity to address the skills issue facing the UK, especially in terms of funding for engineering and computer science in schools and universities.

“As educational funding will be a key theme running up to the election it will be interesting to see whether party manifestos include this topic; and furthermore if they address solutions on how to mend the skills shortage plaguing UK companies,”  said Hall.

David added: “The next government will need to demonstrate that it understands the needs of the UK’s most dynamic businesses by developing a new approach to skills and education for the 21st century.”

Perkins said: “We may be living in turbulent political times but it’s a great time to be an engineer: demand far outstrips supply, salaries are rising and there are fantastic career prospects for tomorrow’s engineers. But we cannot rely on these factors to attract enough engineers to address the growing skills shortage in the UK.”