- The South East LEP has shown its support for a more inclusive tech workforce in the country by pledging to the Tech Talent Charter
- The LEP joins hundreds of other leading tech employers including Sky, Channel 4 and KPMG
- The South East LEP’s Digital Skills Partnership recently set out its key priorities, including providing tech skills training to those at risk of exclusion from the industry
Through its trailblazing Digital Skills Partnership, the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is strengthening its support for diversity in the tech workforce by signing up to the Government-backed Tech Talent Charter (TTC), established to encourage and support both large employers and SMEs to tackle the progress needed to create a more diverse and inclusive tech industry in the UK.
One million more tech workers are needed in the UK by 2020, but just 17% of tech/ICT workers in the UK are female, and only one in 10 females currently take A Level computer studies, according to the TTC. The South East LEP has joined hundreds of other companies in this employer-led initiative by committing to adopting recruitment processes that are more inclusive, including Channel 4, YouGov, Sky, RBS, the BBC and KMPG, aiming to make headway in offsetting the looming tech skills gap in the country.
The South East LEP will utilise its commitment to the TTC by actively encouraging its network of businesses across the area to pledge their support to the Charter and help make the South East a frontrunner in creating a more diverse, inclusive workforce in the tech industry across East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock.
The LEP recently held the first Steering Group meeting for its Digital Skills Partnership (DSP), where attendees set out the key priorities for the Local Digital Skills Partnership and how the work of the partnership will be promoted across the region. The South East LEP’s DSP is one of just six in the country chosen by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to deliver a local DSP strategy.
In line with its commitment to inclusivity through the TTC, the DSP is already looking at ways to make the South East’s tech industry more inclusive, with the development of digital skills training for those at risk of or already facing digital exclusion established as one of the top priorities for the partnership.
South East LEP DSP Coordinator James Wilkinson said:
“We’re delighted to have signed up to the Tech Talent Charter and look forward to working with partners across the South East LEP region to encourage them to do the same. Our Digital Skills Partnership Steering Group recently met for the first time and one of the clear priorities identified by the group across the South East is to improve diversity in the tech and digital workforce, and joining the Tech Talent Charter helps partners to access additional support to help drive this.”
On 17th September 2019, the TTC received a third round of funding from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to support the Charter’s ambition to grow to 600 signatories by the end of the year. The Charter has also been backed by the UK Digital Strategy since 2017.