IT Professionalism
Participation in the Government IT Professionalism initiative is being mandated for central government. It will form the basis of revised Job Profiles, Personal Development Plans and Performance Management that will be developed for every ICT worker. ICT departments have been encouraged to register all of their workforce onto the Government Professionalism programme, and increase registration with professional bodies such as the BCS and SOCITM.
IT skills competency frameworks are becoming more aligned and more recognised; the Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) competency framework relaunch in December sees its further alignment with the Government IT and BCS competency frameworks and a number of Universities are now offering SFIA based Masters degrees.
It was accepted that whilst members had heard of the initiative and of SFIA, general levels of awareness and familiarity were low. It was accepted that greater awareness of the initiative could benefit
• the development and effectiveness of our own ICT departments
• skills description and professional appreciation
• job profiling, personal development planning and person specifications
• the future direction of and themes for TWICT sub-groups
• increasing awareness and understanding of the relationship between job evaluation and competency frameworks
It was felt that it would be useful to have a presentation on this topic at a future SOCITM NE meeting.
Broadband take-up data
NERIP will be producing a resgional and sub regional atlas of household and business broadband and internet take up. We have received subscription details and will be able to share take up data with members.
Digital Inclusion Action Plan
There was discuission about a TWICT or regional ICT response to the consultation paper. This could be raised at SOCITM NE and we will liaise with NERIEP regarding the scope of its response.
IT in the Community Conference
The IT in the Community Conference is being held in Sunderland 25/26 November at the Stadium of Light. Delegate spaces are still available and the conference is now free to attend. A community ‘barcamp’ is being held on the eve of the conference. www.itinthecommunity.com
December Meeting Arrangements
It was confirmed that there will be no December 2008 meeting.
Next Meeting
8th January 2009 at Gateshead Civic Centre.