To CIOs, CTOs and executives responsible for IT professionals:
The pressure to provide effective IT solutions will not go away. This is the same for your competitors. Increasingly, you will find that your ability to respond will be dependent upon finding and retaining people with the up to date skills you need. Not just technical skills, but all those skills which relate to making and sustaining significant competitive advantage. This strategic plan offers you opportunities to influence and be involved with the overall skills environment within the UK, and make sure you have access to the skills you need.

With the guidance of the UK Businesses Board, comprising executives from leading companies in key industry sectors, the e-skills NTO will lead a UK agenda that includes:

• Increasing the number, quality, and work-readiness of new recruits into IT careers.
  
  
• Improving the ease of access to IT training, and improving assessment of content and quality.
  
  
• Addressing employer needs for IT qualifications and development programmes.
  
  
• Improve the capabilities of companies to exploit e-business.
  
  
• Providing authoritative, industry-wide perspectives of future skills needs for employers, educators and government.

Please download our plan. We are particularly interested in your views on Part 2 "Professional skills", especially the strategic objectives (part 2.2) and the priority initiatives (part 2.3).

We look forward to hearing from you on our discussion forum or in your direct feedback .

Thank you for your time to help us make this strategy meet your needs.

Yours,

Karen Price, CEO e-skills NTO