Liz Williams MBE, FutureDotNow CEO has been appointed to the UK’s new Digital Skills Council.
Launched as part of the Government’s new Digital Strategy by the Department of Culture, Digital, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Council will ‘provide a focal point for the liaison between government and industry to address the digital skills shortage and quality deficit in the UK.’
Appointed by Council co-chair Chris Philp MP, Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Liz will be joined by co-chair Phil Smith, CBE FREng, Chairman of IQE PLC as well as representatives from Cisco, AWS, Royal Academy of Engineering, Multiverse and more.
Liz says: “I’m delighted to have been invited by the Minister to join the Government’s new Digital Skills Council. This new body will set an ambitious agenda to tackle the digital skills needed for the workforce of the future. I’ll be championing the need for bold ambition for the digital capability of everyone in the UK.
“I can’t wait to get started – there’s lots to do.”
The Council will bring together government and industry to drive action which addresses industry’s current and future demand for digital skills.
The Council will support industry to:
- promote routes into digital careers and opportunities for the labour market to re-skill and up-skill to meet current and future employer needs.
- increase awareness of resources that enable pathways into digital and digitally enabled jobs for workers in non digital roles.
- promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.
Last week, Liz reflected on the Digital Strategy itself: “The Government has ambitious aims around the digital economy. Achieving them will require serious focus on the significant gap in digital capability and confidence that’s holding back UK productivity and prosperity.
“I don’t see enough attention in the strategy on that part of the puzzle.”
Read more in LIz’s blog: ‘How can the UK be an economic digital powerhouse when so many people lack the digital basics?’