Not quite off topic...

[Peter Tomlinson]

Circulated by BCS on behalf of IAAC:

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is proposing some 
changes to classifications of official statistics which could be of 
significant detriment to the Tech Sector and wider economic growth. They 
are proposing re-classifying 39% of IT & Telecoms occupations and 57% of 
the IT & Telecoms industry as 'creative' alongside the following six 
creative industry sectors: advertising and marketing; architecture; 
design; film & TV; publishing; music and the arts.

There is concern that this fragmentation would mean that with regard to 
official statistics and government policy, IT & Telecoms would not be 
recognised as a coherent sector of strategic importance in its own 
right. There is also concern in some quarters that it also fails to 
recognise that all sectors of the economy, including engineering, 
financial services, retail, health, have a strong and increasing 
dependency on IT specialists.

A background paper is attached [was attached but I have stripped it off 
- see [1] below] which provides more detail and provides a direct route 
for response to the consultation (there are only three questions).

The consultation is open until 14th June 2013 and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/classifying-and-measuring-the-creative-industries-consultation-on-proposed-changes.”

[1] You can obtain it from "Taylor, Judith" <judith.taylor at hq.bcs.org.uk>

Peter