Around the UK - East of England

Led by our East of England representative, e-skills UK has been working with key partners in the region to deliver on the objectives outlined in our strategic plan for England.

Latest LMI

• There are 11,850 workplaces in the IT & Telecoms industry in Eastern England – 92% of which are IT companies and 8% Telecoms. In the IT industry in the region, a small number of large firms employ a large proportion of the workforce. Micro firms make up 95% of the number of IT & Telecoms businesses in Eastern England, but just 34% of the actual workforce. By contrast, firms with 200 or more employees make up less than 1% of the total number of workplaces, but employ 27% of the workforce.
• 144,000 people employed in Eastern England work in the IT & Telecoms workforce. This comprises around 82,000 in the IT & Telecoms industry itself, and a further 62,000 working as IT or Telecoms professionals in other industries.
• The profile of IT & Telecoms professionals in the region is an ageing one. The proportion aged 16-29 has dropped from 28% in 2001 to 20% in 2007, as the sector favours experienced workers from other sectors over young recruits from the education system.
• The IT & Telecoms workforce in Eastern England is highly qualified. 46% of IT & Telecoms professionals hold a qualification at level 4 or higher, compared to 29% for the overall working population of the region. Moreover, only 4% of IT & Telecoms professionals in Eastern England are not qualified to level 2, compared to 16% of Eastern England’s employed workforce.
  

For the latest analysis of key labour market intelligence specific to the East of England, please refer to the 'Technology Counts England: IT and Telecoms Insights 2008' report. The report provides an in depth understanding of the existing IT & Telecoms landscape in the nine English regions, with forecasts of the future based on the best available global intelligence.

ICT policy for the region

One of the core goals of Eastern England's Regional Economic Strategy (RES) is for the East of England to become a 'Leading Information Society'. To deliver this, the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has written an ICT strategy. Within the ICT strategy business plan, ICT is recognised as being a complex subject that impacts on many aspects of the region’s economy and other policy objectives with its primary impact highlighted as being its potential to uplift the regions GVA. As a consequence the report states that the strategy’s ultimate objective is to optimise ICT in order to generate the maximum GVA uplift.

Last modified: 30 Jun 2009