Scotland’s digital sector should support new computer clubs for girls and advertise jobs abroad as it seeks to tackle a shortage of skilled employees, a Holyrood report has recommended.
The ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan published yesterday as First Minister Alex Salmond opened the new Edinburgh premises of digital incubator CodeBase revealed how developing a high quality workforce is “critical” if Scotland is to continue to attract and support high-value jobs in the sector.
It warns that the trend towards “contracting-out” IT services to lower-cost countries makes it doubly important that prospective employees have the skills required by investors.
The plan proposes a network of ‘Computer Clubs for Girls’, targeting hundreds of members aged between 10 and 14, as a way of attracting more women into an industry which suffers from an aging workforce and poor gender balance.
Female participation in the ICT and digital workforce fell by 13% over the decade to 2012, it reveals while also proposing new discussions with local authorities over improving future teaching provision.
Software development, telecoms and information and communication technology account for around 3% of the Scottish economy, contributing £3 billion gross value added each year and employing around 73,000 people across all sectors.
Average salaries are significantly higher than the mean, and software engineering and web development are expected to demand more skilled employees in the years to come.
But the investment plan warns businesses face challenges in recruiting workers amid a decline in students tackling computing courses at school. The number of students sitting Standard Grade exams fell by more than a quarter in the four-year period to 2012, it says.
“Broadening the talent pipeline and addressing these longer-term challenges will require coordinated action across a number of areas,” the report adds.
“This will include stimulating demand from young people and learners; ensuring adequate teaching capacity in schools, colleges and universities and ensuring more college and university places are available to meet an increased demand.
“Part of the solution to increasing interest in the sector lies in rolling-out industry supported extra-curricular provision that supports young people in developing ICT and digital technology skills and careers awareness.”
The investment plan also calls for a “targeted marketing campaign to raise awareness of the skill shortage roles aimed at individuals within, and outside Scotland”, as well as an industry-led talent academy, more targeted support for skills development in the workplace, and the delivery of 750 work placements for college and university students by 2016.
Mr Salmond used his CodeBase visit to announce that £6.6m is to be ploughed into the sector, as part of action designed to help satisfy additional demand of up to 11,000 jobs a year.
The news comes amid warnings Scotland’s labour market is “lagging behind” other nations.
ICT and Digital Technologies Skills group chairman Gerry Docherty said more people must be enticed into an industry with “exciting and rewarding career prospects”.
“We must encourage a greater flow of talent into this sector, to maximise its impact on Scotland’s export performance, and on the efficiency and competitiveness of the Scottish economy as a whole,” he said.