The UK provides considerably more training for IT professionals than most other European countries.

According to Eurostat figures seen by e-skills UK, about one in four (26 per cent) IT professionals in Britain had received training in the month preceding a survey, compared to an average in Europe of about 15 per cent.

"It is very encouraging that the UK is among Europe's leaders in terms of investment in IT professional skills," said e-skills UK's chief executive, Karen Price.

"This is reinforced by a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which ranks the UK third worldwide in terms of IT professional skills, and fourth in terms of overall IT competitiveness."

However, she warned that the UK should not become complacent, and stressed that IT workers should continue to develop the skills that they need.

Ms Price continued: "The importance of this cannot be overstated: the EIU report concludes that when it comes to global IT competitiveness, skills will increasingly be the basis of IT differentiation at country level."

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)