The South West has a total workforce of 79,980, the sixth largest IT workforce in the UK, including:

• 35,746 employees in the IT industry
• 44,234 IT professionals working in other sectors

It is expected that the South West’s share of UK IT employment  will decline slightly between now and 2014.  This region is also vulnerable to major redundancies as industries restructure and relocate.  Nearly a third of IT and Telecoms employment is concentrated in Bristol and the surrounding area. 

There is a higher proportion of ‘Software Professionals’ in the region compared to the country as a whole and consequently it is the most common IT professional job role in the region.  Compared to the country whole, there is a low proportion of IT Strategy and Planning professionals, IT operations technicians and non-IT professionals employed in the regional IT industry.

13% of companies in the South West reported that their IT professionals are less than 100% proficient, which is high compared to 9% in Great Britain. The most significant skills gaps in the South West are in the development and implementation of IT systems and services, particularly systems architecture.

QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) accredited courses in Computing or Computer Science are offered by 9 Higher Education Institutions in the region, which is low compared to other English regions.  The region attracted a 7.8% share of graduates who entered the UK IT workforce within six months of graduation.

Source: e-skills UK South West regional report 2005a