Primary school pupils in England will be taught computer programming as part of an overhaul of the national curriculum that will see ICT replaced with computing across all levels of education from September 2014.
The plans were announced by Education Secretary Michael Gove, who hopes to finalise the curriculum by this autumn so schools have a year to prepare for the changes.
Read more: GB: New National Curriculum To Teach Five Year Olds Computer Programming
In light of the news that the UK still faces a structural deficit of £90bn, this week’s Spending Review outlined a number of further cuts which will come into force over the coming years, setting the context for the 2015 election. Against a backdrop of continued uncertainty and economic gloom, the CSR did explicitly recognise the potential for technology-driven innovation in the public and private sector, as well as the requirement for the UK’s cyber capabilities to progress at a faster pace. With job losses anticipated as part of the continued efficiency measures, skillsets within the public sector will need to diversify, and private sector skills will have to be tapped into, to meet this need.
Read more: GB: Shared services and technology can transform the public sector
The Farr Institute (named for the leading nineteenth century epidemiologist William Farr) will build on £19 million existing funding that supports four e-health informatics research centres (eHIRCs) from a combination of government Research Councils, health departments and medical research charities, doubling investment in health informatics in the UK. With major centres in London, Dundee, Manchester and Swansea, the new institute will link research from medical, population and computer scientists based at nineteen UK universities.
Read more: UK invests in health informatics research institute
Skills shortages are a big issue in IT.
Think about cyber security, for instance. It’s a very hot area right now and a source of real concern. In February 2013, a National Audit Office (NAO) report warned that a lack of skilled workers was hampering the UK’s fight against cyber crime. It also estimated that cyber crime was costing the UK public anything from £18bn to £27bn annually.
The OFT is reaching out to IT suppliers and buyers to learn more about how the industry currently works. It could affect how comptuing equipment is bought into Government-owned buildings and organisations, including schools.
"ICT plays a crucial role in the delivery of all public services, including schools, hospitals and the police. It is also an important part of the UK economy, with the top 20 software and IT services providers earning about £10.4bn a year in revenue from the public sector," read a statement.
Read more: GB: OFT investigates "competition problems" in public IT sector