6. FUTURE SKILLS NEEDS

6.1 Skills forecasting

ICT LMI (Information Communications Technology Labour Market Intelligence)

A UK-wide survey involving 4000 employers was conducted by the e-skills NTO and NOP Research, beginning September 2000. Covering both the IT industry and employers of IT professionals in other industry sectors, the survey is the largest and most comprehensive to date on e-skills shortages in the UK.

The project was guided by a Steering Group including Marconi, IBM, QA Training, CSSA, and the e-skills NTO’s sister organisations nto tele.com (representing the telecoms sector), Skillset (media) and EMTA (engineering manufacture).

The first phase of the survey featured a series of face-to-face interviews with a number of major UK based corporations, following which NOP undertook telephone interviews with Heads of IT and Human Resources Directors from companies throughout the UK. In each instance, the interviewee was presented with a series of questions relating to recruitment methods, employment trends, staff proficiency, training and business performance.

The resulting data has been collected such that analysis is possible down to the level of specific job roles and functions. This provides an extremely valuable source of intelligence in the detail necessary for effective action. It can be used for example to:

  • Help training organisations plan their product portfolio;
  • Assist companies in identifying and reducing the risk of potential skills shortages;
  • Aid personal development planning for those within or entering the sector;
  • Help the NTO in defining priorities for employer-led action.

The first in a series of reports derived from this work will be made available in the summer of 2001, giving an overview of the employment of IT professionals in the UK. It will be provided to e-skills NTO members and published in both hardcopy format and via our website, as will three subsequent reports considering the IT, Telecoms and Multi-media sectors in more detail.

Contacts : Andrew Harvey-Price on or write to and Peter Hounsome on or write to

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