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British armed forces lack IT professionals, report MPs

Source: Vsoftsystems, 17/09/2018

Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee says armed forced need to plug
skills gap
The UK parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has said that the armed
forces need to take on more cyber specialists to plug a growing skills
gap.
The report, titled “Skill shortages in the Armed Forces”, said that
not only was there a shortfall in IT specialists but in general there
were shortages in 102 trades across the three armed forces as well as
an annual turnover of personnel nearing 15% in five important trades.
It said that while the Ministry of Defence has introduced a range of
initiatives to help address the shortfalls, and developed a new career
structure for cyber specialists, these initiatives have been
small-scale or are still under development. It noted that the MoD has
“recruited only 50 people through its ‘lateral entry’ (direct
recruitment into more senior roles) schemes”.
“The Department has not developed a coherent plan for closing the
existing skill gaps and securing the new skills that it will need. It
has relied too much on long-established and conservative approaches
and has been slow to respond to the changing external environment,”
the report warned.
The report questioned whether the MoD’s approach to recruitment was
radical enough to fill the skill shortages in a rapidly changing
external environment; for example, for cyber skills professionals.
“The Department is developing a new long-term career structure
specifically in this field, reviewing the entry requirements and
considering whether these posts need to be military roles. It is also
seeking to ensure that its IT business is properly organised and is
working with the Cabinet Office on its digital, data and technology
(DDaT) initiative, which provides some flexibilities on levels of pay
it can offer,” it said.

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