Digitisation is transforming our society and the way we work. Today everyone needs digital skills to fully participate and reap the benefits of our digital society – you, me, doctors, factory workers and civil servants – everyone alike.

Modernising pubic administrations using digital tools and upskilling the civil servants is part of the eGovernment Action Plan. When we called on eGovernment stakeholders ­– through the eGovernment4EU platform – to hear their views we got many answers that focused on the need to upskill civil servants and citizens.

"Officers within public administrations need new skills and training to adapt local public services to the digital era and to work across sectors within the administrations and across borders."

- eGovernment4EU, 20 September 2016

Just like most people working – all civil servants need a basic level of ICT skills to carry out everyday tasks, deliver services and engage with outside actors. Some people also need more advanced skills to use  data for policy modelling, evaluation, data analytics and data mining to support policy, service delivery and impact evaluation. Furthermore, civil servants need to learn project management as well as how to engage with people they serve through participatory processes.

What is being done at European level?

In 2016, the European Commission adopted a new Skills Agenda for Europe. It includes ten concrete actions to ensure that the right training, the right skills and the right support is available to people in the European Union. It highlights that access to services, including e-services, is changing and requires that both citizens and public administrations have sufficient digital skills.

One of the ten actions is the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, which is a partnership gathering Member States and actors who pledge to take actions and share best practices to reduce the digital skills gaps in Europe. Member States are also invited to develop comprehensive National Digital Skills Strategies by the mid-2017 and to setup national digital skills coalitions to support their implementation.

The Commission also supports the development of competence frameworks for citizens and various sectors. Some examples are the competence framework specifically designed for customs officers, the eCompetence Framework for ICT professionals, and a competence framework for the digital skills of consumers. These frameworks could also be the basis of curricula to train people.

Furthermore, the ERASMUS+ programme provides funding for so-called Sector skills Alliances. European Structural and Investment Funds support through Thematic Objective 11 – "Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration".

Lastly, the Commission has developed a system for validation of formal and non-formal skills and qualifications and we are now working on a standardised vocabulary for the labour market – the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations, ESCO.

I, and my colleagues, encourage public administrations all over Europe to strengthen civil servants' digital skills so that everyone can take full advantage of the opportunities modern digital public services offer.

Claire Bury, Deputy Director-General DG CONNECT, European Commission