BARONESS Blackstone, Minister for Education and Employment in the House of Lords, told a recent conference on information technology that overcoming skills shortages was crucial to maintaining competitiveness.

More than 150 delegates from Thames Valley businesses heard a top line of speakers at the Competiveness in the Information Age conference discussing the challenges facing their organisations in search of a skilled workforce and how they had found ways to motivate and retain their employees.

Speakers at the event, organised by Thames Valley Enterprise (TVE), included representatives from Cisco Systems and Microsoft.

Baroness Blackstone told delegates: "The Government recognises the significant of the IT sector and the huge impact it has on the UK economy. Overcoming skills shortages is crucial to sustaining competitiveness.

"We must develop the existing workforce - and the prime responsibility for that rests with employers." She added that she would like to see more IT employers taking on Modern Apprentices.

Creative partnerships need to be formed to maintain a leading edge."

Innovative approaches being carried out by employers include flexible learning packages, and employee referral whereby existing staff are rewarded for introducing suitable candidates to the company.

Marinos Paphitis, training director at TVE, said it was currently working with 6,500 apprentices.

He said: "It is critical that firms provide training for young people they take on. And with skills shortages continuing to be widespread in the region it makes perfect economic sense."