• EMCSC founder and the paper’s author Dr Ismini Vasileiou led the launch
• Cyber leaders from government, academia and industry attended 
• Challenges, recommendations and next steps discussed

Momentum continues to build behind recommendations made in East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster’s recent skills White Paper. 

Cyber Workforce of the Future: Why the UK Needs a Skills Taxonomy Now was officially launched during a special event in Westminster this week. 

Led by Dr Ismini Vasileiou and attended by Dan Aldridge MP, Chair, APPG for Cyber Innovation, the event brought together government, industry, and academia for a round table discussion at Portcullis House. 

Groups including EMCSC, De Montfort University Leicester, DSIT, techUK, the UK Cyber Security Council, NCSC, and UKC3 discussed next steps on how to address barriers and challenges within the industry identified in the White Paper. 

Issues discussed by the group included workforce fragmentation, scarcity of entry-level roles, lack of engagement with larger employers and companies, capacity issues within SMEs and smaller firms and government-led implementation. 

Delegates acknowledged that while the UK Cyber Security Council currently leads the work on establishing a Professional Register for Cyber Practitioners, progress has been hampered by limited sector engagement and a lack of sustained government backing since the end of the Council’s initial funding. 

All around the table agreed that a credible, widely supported register remains essential to professionalising the workforce, recognising skills, and strengthening accountability across the sector.

Dr Vasileiou is EMCSC founder, Co-Chair at the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), and Associate Professor and author of the White Paper. 

She said: “It was encouraging to have an open and honest conversation not just around the issues within the industry but also around barriers to addressing them. 

“Collaboration is key and so to lead the conversation around that and hear industry leaders from a range of sectors agree on a route forward feels like real progress. 

“Capitalising on the current relevance of cyber security and seizing opportunity were other things we all agreed on and with the backing of Dan Aldridge MP and the APPG I’m excited to see what we can achieve together.”

Dan Aldridge MP, Chair, APPG for Cyber Innovation, added: “We need to embark on a national mission when it comes to cyber security.

"Threat proliferation is a real issue and the general public do not always understand the threat proliferation that we have. 

"This paper, and discussions we have had today, feed into what needs to happen next to bolster cyber security for everyone. 

"There's an opportunity over the next 12 months to raise the game, get other MPs involved and make cyber security part of the national conversation."

The White Paper, published earlier this year, recommends that Government should:

1. Establish a DSIT-led taskforce to co-create a UK Cyber Skills Taxonomy
2. Establish a national delivery body to govern the taxonomy
3. Incentivise employer adoption of standardised, skills-based recruitment
4. Align education and career pathways to real-world cyber roles
5. Scale regional skills alignment through a National Implementation Framework.

Picture shows Dr Ismini Vasileiou leading the launch discussion at Portcullis House.

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About East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster CIC

EMCSC supports development of cyber security skills as a means of supporting regional economic growth. Founded by Dr Ismini Vasileiou in Leicester in 2023, its projects and programmes create opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, sharing of best practice and industry training. EMCSC works across public and private sectors, as well as academia, promoting business cyber-resilience and cyber security careers throughout the East Midlands. Its partners include the national UKC3 network and the Cyber Resilience Centre for the East Midlands.

Learn more at www.emcsc.co.uk/

‍About All-Parliamentary Group for Cyber Innovation

The APPG provides a forum for discussion of ideas, solutions and policies to unlock innovation, growth, and diversity in the cyber sector. It is an open forum for new ideas,  bringing together parliamentarians, industry professionals, academia, media and civil society. The APPG works to attract non-traditional voices to the cyber debate in order to facilitate mutual learning, change perceptions, and develop new and innovative policy recommendations.

Learn more at: www.cb-network.org/appg-for-cyber-innovation/

About De Montfort University

De Montfort University is home to more than 20,000 students and offers around 200 programmes. It is one of the few universities in the UK to offer the block teaching method. Its research and innovation focuses on applying new knowledge in collaboration with industry to benefit society and the economy. DMU was awarded a gold standard ‘Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education’ by the leading authority on cyber security in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Its expertise in sustainability is recognised by the United Nations which has made it the sole UK university to be UN hub for one of its Sustainable Development Goals.

Learn more at: www.dmu.ac.uk