gender equality, digital skills, international competitiveness
Digital Skills Committee investigates women in tech
4 November 2014
On Tuesday 4 November the House of Lords Digital Skills Committee will ask witnesses whether the IT sector is seen as a 'geeky boys club'.
In two evidence sessions, the Committee will hear from influential women on their views of the IT sector, and then from the European Commission and OECD, on the issue of global digital competitiveness.
Witnesses
Tuesday, 4 November, Committee Room 2, Palace of Westminster
At 10:15am
- Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Director, Web Science Institute, University of Southampton
- Baroness Shields, Digital Advisor to the Prime Minister
At 11:15am
- Megan Richards, Principal Adviser, DG CONNECT, European Commission
- Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills & Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (via video link)
Possible questions
The Committee is investigating information and communications technology, and next week it will examine issues of inclusion, and also look closely at how the digital competitiveness of the UK compares to Europe and the international stage more broadly.
Questions which the Committee will put to the witnesses are:
- Is there a perception that the IT sector is ‘geeky’ and a ‘boys club’?
- Is there a danger that the UK could slip in terms of global competitiveness because of a lack of women in the sector and the time it takes for people to become work ready?
- Where should the Government focus its efforts in order to grow the UK’s economy and support the digital sector?
- How can we ‘future-proof’ the UK’s economy?
- How have countries across Europe enabled the digital sector to flourish?
- Europe is accused of having ‘gone from digital leader to digital laggard’ in less than a decade. How can we change this?
- Where are the world’s leading tech clusters?
- What are the best ways of developing and maintaining a skilled population?