IT Profession Skills

The issues raised by this report point to quite new approaches and techniques in the publishing of information.  One early indicator is the proposal for an API model for publishing the 2011 census.  As with any innovation, the challenge for a large organisation such as the public sector is to capture the skills of leading professionals and transfer them to the body of the workforce.  The UK Government IT profession and the work of other professional bodies such as the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM) provide good mechanisms to deliver this.

The Government IT Profession and SOCITM describe themselves as follows:

“The Government IT profession brings together all IT professionals working across the UK public sector: UK government departments and agencies, local government, the emergency services and specialist deliverers such as the health sector. It includes everyone from new entrants through to the members of the Chief Information Officer Council.”

“The Society of Information Technology Management was founded in 1986 as the professional association for ICT managers working in and for the public sector. Members are drawn primarily from local authorities but also from the police and fire services, housing authorities and other locally delivered public service.”

“Managers or consultants from organisations supplying ICT products and services to the public sector, or which support public services in other ways, may also join the Society.”

This report makes recommendations to the government and confines itself to the Government IT profession but we would encourage SOCITM to behave in a similar way.