Oral Answers to Questions

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

STEMnet ambassadors are doing a fantastic job of going to schools to encourage young people to study those subjects. There is a surge in the number of young people taking A-levels in subjects such as maths and physics, which are often a requirement for going on to engineering.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

9. What assessment he has made of the ability of businesses to recruit staff with appropriate IT skills.

[The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)]

Our recent information economy strategy shows that employers find it hard to get people with the right IT skills, yet there is also relatively high unemployment among computer science graduates. That is why I recently convened a round-table with vice-chancellors and employers to tackle that mismatch. I know that issue is vital in the Malvern cyber-valley that my hon. Friend does so much to support.

[Harriett Baldwin]

Indeed, cyber-security IT skills are vital for the online world. Will the Minister welcome the initiative by private sector firms in my constituency to set up a cyber-skills training centre, and may I invite him, once again, to visit?

[Mr Willetts]

I do support that initiative and I hope it will be possible to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency, because I know how much she does to support the Malvern cluster, which will soon be rivalling the Cambridge cluster and tech city.