Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to increase the number of women entering IT specialist fields.

The Government wants to unlock the full potential of the tech sector, and increasing women’s participation in IT is essential to achieving this. That’s why on Monday 15^th December, we launched a Women in Tech Taskforce to identify and address the barriers that prevent women from entering and leading into tech careers.

The group is comprised of 14 prominent and diverse experts and industry leaders spanning technology, investment, entrepreneurship, and policy including BT’s first female chairman Allison Kirkby and Stemettes founder Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon. The taskforce will identify where interventions can have the biggest impact on increasing women’s participation in the sector and will develop practical recommendations for government.

In addition, programmes like the £187million TechFirst programme are helping build a more robust pipeline by providing training in AI and digital skills to support them into careers including cyber security, AI, quantum computing, software, data and more. Specific consideration is given to increasing participation among women and underrepresented groups.