Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have in place to ensure that the digital skills of UK citizens are viable in the global marketplace and can compete with those of Brazilians and Indians, in the light of the recent study commissioned by Barclays which rated the digital skills of Brazil and India as greater than those in the UK.

The recent Barclays’ study on digital skills ranked the UK favourably overall for digital skills (4th), ahead of both Brazil (9th) and India (7th).

High-quality and relevant skills underpin productivity and growth and give people confidence to make the most of modern technology. Ensuring digital skills keep up to date with the pace of technological change is a challenge for all developed countries. We have therefore made significant improvements to education and training, including reforming the computing curriculum so all young people are taught coding in school.

We will continue to take action to ensure the UK is developing the digital skills individuals and businesses need. Reforms to our technical education system will provide people with the necessary digital skills as set out in our Post-16 Skills Plan. We have also recently introduced new innovative digital degree apprenticeships to enable young people to get an honours degree, alongside on the job training.