Fergie's Tech Blog

Is It Really This Bad? UK Government Turns to Prisoners to Tackle IT Skills Shortages

Bryan Glick writes in Computing:

Prisoners are to be trained in networking and cable installation to help tackle a skills shortage for suitably-skilled IT professionals.

Prisons minister David Hanson and skills minister David Lammy launched the new vocational learning academy at Wandsworth prison in London.

According to Cisco, one of the co-founders of the initiative, demand for data and network cabling experts outstrips supply by 20 per cent in the UK – equivalent to 61,000 jobs.

Criminals who complete the training will be interviewed by BeOnsite, a not-for-profit training company owned by scheme co-founder Bovis Lend Lease, and successful candidates will be employed when they are released from prison.

posted by Fergie @ 6/10/2008 10:59:00 PM