Professionals Objective 6: Future Skills Needs

In order to meet e-skills demands, key bodies need access to a consistent view of what those demands will be over coming years. Evaluation of current skills data and trends analysis must be delivered regularly, based on primary research amongst employers and consolidation of expert commentary. There is significant demand for a UK-wide classification system for IT-based skills, such that employees, employers, educators and researchers can communicate in a common language about skills requirements and link training approaches to developments in the market place. Further, communications regarding skills must be delivered in the forms most useful to the various interested parties, and placed within both European and global perspectives.

Authoritative industry-wide perspectives of current and future e-skills requirements	Programmes: 6.1. Skills Forecasting: Ensure skills forecasting data is current and regularly updated, including a baseline 'e-skills foresight' analysis of future skills needs and trends, with associated priorities for action. 6.2. Regional gap analyses: Provide geographic gap analyses of employer skills needs and available supply, in English regions and devolved countries, packaged as required by employers and educators. 6.3. Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA): Extend the UK-wide classification system to cover all key IT-based skills, and promote its use to employers, educators and researchers. 6.4. Skills communications: Actively communicate this skills information, supplemented by regular bulletins to preserve interest and currency, as required by the different target audiences.
Key partners using accurate predictive information