With the Brexit negotiations looming I feel we need to look at our countries digital skills. We also need a nationwide digital strategy linked to the devolution plans for building digital skills, diversifying private IT investment UK-wide, support of digital start-up companies with both finance and IT mentoring and encouraging ‘pay it forward’ schemes for finance and IT mentoring for digital business and Government services.

However, we also must focus on diversity and inclusion as part of this digital strategy.  One example of this is the Northern voices programme which has been set up to get more women in IT and to speak about IT at conferences and in the media: it has similar aims as Liberal Democrat Women to get more women in STEM roles and in senior positions.

The Liberal Democrats want UK businesses to thrive and become global. Being part of the single market for trade, trade investment and for knowledge transfers of IT innovation will help these businesses thrive and thus keep and create digital jobs.

All types of business need digital skills, from the local florist to boost retail sales and arrange deliveries, or fashion designers to create their designs, to political organisations like the Liberal Democrats to campaign, handle MP casework, hold webinar discussions on hot topics and to support their membership teams.

The UK has a good reputation in both public and private sectors of IT knowledge and we need to exploit this to build our digital future for both digital enabled and non-digital enabled citizens.  We need to become world leaders in innovative technologies in assistive technologies to gain access to work and public spaces, health, politics, green technologies, education and entertainment to name a few.

In Leeds on 27^th April, there is a free Digital Jobs Action Summit sponsored by Tech North which I would like everyone to come along and support.  Come along and listen to the debates and enthusiastically participate in the discussions.  There are four sessions being held, which address the key issues of ‘What is the problem?’, ‘Why is there a problem?’, ‘What can we all do about it?’ and ‘How are others leading the way?’

So please sign up here and join in the discussions.

* Diane Reddell is a member in the Wansbeck constituency