Monday 5 January 2009

Gordon's Square Deal

It’s heartening to know, as we embark upon a new year that seems especially uncertain for many of us, that our Prime Minister has a plan.

“Brown suggested that infrastructure such as high-speed broadband could be the modern equivalent of Roosevelt's programme: ‘When we talk about the roads and the bridges and the railways that were built in previous times - and those were anti-recession measures taken to help people through difficult times - you could [by comparison] talk about the digital infrastructure and that form of communications revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the economy. It's a very important thing.’”

I can’t argue with that, and although the article was based on a (Guardian) press interview, and is not a formal policy announcement, am slightly encouraged!


I was in touch with Professor David Hircock over the holiday. (He and his family spent Christmas in the UK.) No – we haven’t forgotten about the International Social Justice Campaign, and hope to have further news soon. In the meantime, I’ve written to LOLA colleagues asking them to set-up a discussion forum, which I will signpost when it’s ready.


We heard, over the holiday, that BCS members voted strongly in favour (91.2%) of the proposal to enable BCS to establish a registration body that can license other bodies to award the Society's CITP status. So we are, hopefully, a step closer to enabling Socitm to award Chartered IT Professional status.


Today, it was back to work from home – mostly on a draft of the “Position Statement” that the December Board agreed to produce. I hope we’ll be in a position to agree and publish this before the end of the month.


All the best for 2009!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Richard Steel said...

Anonymous.

Thanks for your comment on CITP status. I believe I've covered this before, but you are correct in stating that Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status is awarded on the basis of peer assessment by the British Computer Society, which is the only IT body in the UK empowered to grant chartered status to IT professionals under its 1984 Royal Charter.

The fact that the BCS's authority to confer CITP status derives from its Royal Charter means that the award is seen to be on a par with the other chartered professions and is recognised as the paramount qualification within IT in Great Britain.

The criteria and requirements for chartered professionals in any field must be approved by the Privy Council.