Skills Review response ‘delayed for good reason’

A long-awaited official government response to the Skills Review has been delayed for a good reason, the report’s co-author Ian Livingstone has said.

“I can confirm that the delay in the Government’s response to Next Gen is for a good reason,” the industry figurehead told GamesIndustry.biz

Eidos Life President Livingstone (pictured, right) recently met with advisers at the Department for Education, Develop understands, to discuss proposals outlined in his Next Gen report.

And while a November 15th deadline for the department’s response had been outlined, it is now expected to be delayed by a couple of weeks.

The full response, expected to be published before December, will also feature replies from the Culture department and the department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The Skills Review makes twenty key recommendations to help remedy the so-called ‘skills gap’ affecting the UK games industry – though the headline policy is to incorporate computer science into the national curriculum.

Released in February, the review paper has won widespread acclaim for its thorough research and comprehensive list of reform recommendations.

The sentiment of the Skills Review was endorsed by Google chairman Eric Schmidt during a speech in August, where he told attendees at an Edinburgh event that he was “flabbergasted to learn that today computer science isn’t even taught as standard in UK schools”.

Weeks later, the paper won support during a House of Lords debate, before the Prime Minister himself declared last week that Britain is “not doing enough to actually teach the next generation of programmers".

David Cameron, speaking during last week’s tour of Tech City in the East end of London, said comments from business leaders across the zone were a “wake up call for our education system”.

Education Secretary, Michael Gove (pictured, left), has yet to comment publicly on the matter.