Philip Virgo

When IT Meets Christmas: The Massacre of the Innocents Updated

After presenting the infant with their analogue, hacker-proof gifts, the Three Wise Men received a text warning them not to got back to Herod but to go home by another route. So they left for Babylon after after giving their phones to a camel trader…

Cyber Governors for London’s Schools

Or: Why cyber employers, professional bodies and trade associations should help provide, train and support governors who will help schools secure their systems and safeguard their pupils (guidance, fund-raising and procurement) at the same time as…

Using schools careers governors to unlock the skills based future

Current careers education in schools is largely focused on persuading 50% of leavers to mortgage their futures by incurring student debts that many will never repay to spend three years (or more) acquiring a degree in the belief that it will enhance…

How much progress have we made in 20 years of Digital Skills policy

The article below was published in Spring 2002, after the Post Y2K Dotcom bubble had burst. Gordon Brown had announced a new approach to skills akin to that needed today. So why did it not happen? We should never under-estimate the forces wanting…

Getting Britons into work with the skills of the future

The issues raised during the Conservatives leadership contest and the Labour calls for national skills and productivity strategies, give context to the need to reset thinking round a new all-party consensus. Neither cutting taxes nor increasing…

Delivering Digital Britain - Get your views heard

The new found aspirations of politicians of all parties to break out of two decades of stagnation in UK per capita productivity depend on levelled up access to the digital skills of the present and future. This will not happen without a switch to…

Getting Britain back to work with the Skills of the Future - using Cyber as an example.

The per capita productivity of the UK has been stagnant since skills policy took a wrong turn after the 2002 Cabinet reshuffle and the failure to deliver the employer-led skills programmes promised in “Developing Workforce Skills: Piloting a New…

The policies of the Candidates for PM depend on improving skills to deliver productivity.

Simply cutting taxes will not break the spiral of stagflation without rapid action to improve the productivity of the UK population as a whole, not just those currently in work, by sorting out: “Right to Work” Checks – which do not allow 1 in 5 to…

How has the UK response to ransomware worked?

Three years ago DPA published a primer, crafted for it by those working on the standards of the day, on Cyber Insurance as a Catalyst for Good Security Practice What has happened since? Does current UK (and/or US/EU) public policy support or get in…

Time to act on the DCMS Select Committee 2016 Recommendations

It is almost exactly six years since I was given permission to blog on the Recommendations of the DCMS Select Committee Cybersecurity Report: into the protection of personal data on-line. Those most likely to “make a difference” did not require…

Building consensus round skills and employment policies that work

My first conclusion from editing the report of the review meeting for phase 1 of the Conservative Political Forum Skills and Employment National Discussion Group was the importance of “leaking” the findings to begin the process of building…

Progress with resetting UK Skills and Employment Agendas for a decade of Accelerating Change.

On 23rd February I chaired a review of the CPF Skills and Employment National Discussion Group. None of the activities agreed was partisan. This article is to summarize them for those who would like to help move from words to action. The next…

Time to act on "Authorised Payment" Fraud

The ending of free Covid Tests and start of campaigns to get House-holders to sign up to Direct Debits in order to “automatically” receive energy rebates will lead to another wave of attempts, via phone, text and e-mail, to get us to click on links…

Setting the UK Skills and Employment Agenda for the next decade

On 23rd February I am due to chair the next progress review of the Conservative Policy Forum Employment and Skills National Discussion Group. The trigger for the formation of the group was a warm-up meeting for the Conservative Party Conference on…

Helping Employers (and Ministers) make sense of the many UK Skills initiatives.

Last month it was announced that the 1922 Committee (of Conservative back-bench MPs) would have policy groups working with the Conservative Policy Forum. On 20th January I chaired the first review meeting for the Conservative Policy Forum National…

Levelling Up Access to Jobs

On the 22nd February the Conservative Science and Technology Forum is hosting an on-line parliamentary briefing meeting for the Better Hiring Institute and Reed Screening on the digital processes for checking Right to Work that are due to come in on…

2022: Time to take algorithm-enhanced online abuse seriously

The report of the Joint Scrutiny Committee the On-line Safety Bill raises many issues and the necessary revisions will take time. I am therefore of the opinion that HMG should move rapidly to implement the Age Checking provisions in the Digital…

Setting the Skills and Employment Agenda for 2022 and beyond

Education for one career for life is now the exception not the norm for most school-leavers and graduates. The current workforce is on a treadmill of change. This is accelerating faster than most schools, colleges, universities and employers, let…

Towards UK Skills and Employment Policies for a Post-Pandemic World

Plague expedites change. The Black Death precipitated a century of turmoil which terminated the Feudal System in England. Covid has already precipitated the biggest challenge to UK education structures since the dissolution of the monasteries and…

Forced on-line by the NHS: to be confused, exploited, ignored, mistreated and/or patronised

Introduction: why I am so pleased to provide a platform for this guest blog. If “the NHS belongs to the people” then the systems we use to access NHS services should be built around the needs of those who are to use them – not the techno fashion of…