The Tech Partnership (formerly e-skills UK) is the United Kingdom (UK)'s

sector skills council Sector skills councils (SSCs) are employer-led organisations that cover specific industries in the United Kingdom. They were introduced by Adult Skills Minister, Rt Hon John Healey MP in 2002, while the architect of the policy was Tom Bewick, a ...

for the

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

(IT) industry, also known as "Business and Information Technology" or "IT & Telecoms." It is based in

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. Karen Price

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

is the chief executive officer. The

not-for-profit organisation A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations (NPO ...

works to co-operatively address technology-related skills issues through

evidence-based Evidence-based practice is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. The movement towards evidence-based practices attempts to encourage and, in some instances, require professionals and other decision-makers ...

advice, services and programmes. It is led by its

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

, to operate in the interests of employers by ensuring that the UK is equipped to compete in the worldwide

digital economy The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional Brick and mortar, brick-and-mortar economic activities (production, distribution, trade) are being transformed by the ...

. e-skills UK aims to address the current and future needs of the Business and Information Technology sector in the UK, including

skills shortage In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply ( surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches a si ...

s and

gender inequality Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which people are not treated equally on the basis of gender. This inequality can be caused by gender discrimination or sexism. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology ...

in the UK IT industry. The group publishes the ''e-skills Bulletin'', and the ''Regional Gap-UK'' report on skills gaps. The ''Technology Insights'' report details which skills are most needed. The group has also developed sets of qualifications for IT workers. The group devised the e-skills passport and IT User Qualification (ITQ) qualifications, as its

National Occupational Standards National Occupational Standards (NOS), also known as professional standards, specify UK standards of performance that people are expected to achieve in their work, and the knowledge and skills they need to perform effectively. NOS, which are appr ...

History

e-skills UK existed in name before 2003 as one of the

National Training Organisation National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

s (NTO). Their website was launched in 2000. The National Training Organisations became the Sector Skills Councils (SSC) in April 2003. SSCs were started by the Sector Skills Development Agency, under the leadership of chief executive being Christopher Duff. The numbers of the organisations reduced to 23, and funding was increased. e-skills UK was one of the first Councils to be formed. e-skills UK was initially given a five-year licence to be the SSC for the IT and Telecoms industry, under the leadership of Karen Price. In March 2005 e-skills UK was one of four SSCs to publish their first Sector Skills Agreement, outlining what they hoped to realistically achieve; the other councils to publish agreements at that time were the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA),

Skillset A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gene ...

and ConstructionSkills. Computer Clubs for Girls, or CC4G, began in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

in 2002, designed to educate girls about the potential of technology. The pilot scheme started in 280 schools, with £2.8 million funding by SEEDA, and run by Melody Hermon. Computer Clubs for Girls was launched nationwide on 14 June 2005 for girls aged 10–14 at 3,600 schools, and cost £8.5 million. By 2006, around 1,000 schools had registered and 58,000 girls were in the scheme. In the

2006 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2006, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2006.Saint Lucia list: Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before t ...

Karen Price, chief executive officer of e-skills UK, received an Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 2009, e-skills UK was rated 'outstanding' in the process to re-license Sector Skills Councils. In August 2009, e-skills UK developed a £5.6 million scheme with the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

called ''Vital'', to train school teachers on technology in a form of

continuing professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing praxis in addition to the transferab ...

(CPD). Vital was launched at the annual

BETT Bett or The Bett Show (formerly known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show) is a global series of education shows organised by Hyve Group marketing information technology in education. The flagship show is located in the UK ...

trade show A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

. In February 2010 e-skills UK,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

BT Group BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

formed the Getting British Business Online project (GBBO). In the same year, the group reported that the UK IT industry was around 8% of the UK economy, and covered 5.7% of the working population (IT and telecoms). 860,000 persons worked in the IT industry, plus another approximately 680,000 in IT-related positions. The report concluded that "continued adoption and exploitation of IT & Telecoms technologies could generate an additional £35 billion to the UK economy."

References

External links

* * {{youtube, user=eskillsuk
National Skills Academy for IT

CC4G – Computer Clubs for Girls

e-skills passport

BigAmbition – aimed at teenagers

Getting British Business Online
2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Government agencies established in 2003 Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Information technology education Organisations based in the City of Westminster Sector Skills Councils

History

See also

References

External links