TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, made a series of proposals to the Government to help address skill shortages in the UK and to improve the skills and training system. TIGA made the comments in response to the Government’s consultation document Skills for Sustainable Growth.
Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:
“UK game developers rely on highly creative, technical people with skills and qualifications in areas such as design, programming, artificial intelligence, animation, mathematics and physics. Such skilled people are not easy to find. TIGA research indicates that 39 per cent of games businesses found it fairly or very difficult to fill vacancies in their organisation’s workforce during 2009. Of those game developers who experienced skill shortages whilst recruiting last year, programming, design and management positions were hardest to fill.
“If skill shortages are to be minimised then the Government should:
- drop the proposed cap on the migration of highly skilled workers with a job offer into the UK;
- place no restrictions on the freedom of publisher owned studios to facilitate intra-company transfers;
- provide strong financial incentives to attract the best graduates to teach in schools;
- highlight the video games industry as a career option at school;
- aim to increase the proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) devoted to higher education in the UK from the current 1.3 per cent (competitor countries spend more on tertiary education, for example, the USA spends 3.1%, Canada spends 2.6%, and Japan spends 1.5%);
- ensure that tuition fees for students studying mathematics and computer science degrees are competitively priced in comparison to other degrees to incentivise the study of these subjects;
- consider the introduction of an SME Training Tax Relief;
- aim to keep the tax burden on businesses and individuals as light as possible in order to leave them with more resources to invest in training and skills development;
- shrink the funding gap between FE colleges and schools so that FE colleges can fund courses more generously and be better placed to recruit and retain staff;
- consider giving FE colleges more money in the form of a direct block grant, based on their success in attracting student numbers, to enable them to provide courses that meet employer and learner demand;
- introduce Individual Learning Accounts whereby publicly funded accounts for training under the control of learners could be supplemented by employer and learner contributions in order to help create a demand led training system; and
- avoid assuming that apprenticeships are the primary work based learning mechanism in all sectors – different courses and qualifications will be appropriate in different economic sectors.””
Philip Oliver, TIGA board member and CEO of Blitz Studios, said:”Many game developers invest time and money in workforce development and in
education outreach programmes. The Government could help many small
games businesses to invest in skills and training by introducing a
Training Tax Relief. This measure would operate in a similar way to the
existing R&D tax credits. Small and medium-sized enterprises would
be able to offset expenditure on training, Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) for staff and education outreach activities against
corporation tax.””Jason Kingsely, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative
Director of Rebellion, said:”As a voluntary association of employers,
trade associations like TIGA have a sound understanding of the
industry’s skills needs. Trade associations are best placed to
articulate the industry’s skill needs and they should have a key role to
play in shaping the skills system. TIGA and its members are already
taking steps to address skill shortages: a typical TIGA member spends 6
per cent of their turnover on training; TIGA has published a guide to
careers in the video games sector; and we are working with T2G and over
25 universities and colleges to strengthen industry-education links and
to provide practical solutions to the industry’s skills needs. We look
forward to working with the Government and other partners in enhancing
skills in the games industry.””Ends