Whitehall lacks key ICT skills, warns NAO

Central government is suffering from some considerable gaps between its ICT capacity and the technical capability of its staff, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.

The NAO, Whitehall's auditor, makes the claim in its report The findings of the report are based on a survey of chief information officers (CIOs) spanning 17 government departments.

The report said that different skills needed to be honed in specific business units. Skills cited include architecture analysis and design, information security and business analysis on the technical side.

It further claimed that there were conspicuous gaps in business skills such as managing contractors and stakeholders along with programme and project management.

The report also identified numerous obstacles in addressing skills shortages, such as public-sector pay constraints, the rigid nature of the Civil Service recruitment system and a general lack of skilled workers in the marketplace.

In addition, those surveyed were enthusiastic about the Cabinet Office web space for ICT professionals to share best practice, although the NAO said there was a need to increase its active membership and that building up online resources would mean users could collaborate more effectively.

---