A lack of IT graduates could begin to affect public services, according to an IT trade body. At a British Computer Society (BCS) debate, it emerged that IT students are needed in The City, and the continuing decline in student numbers graduating from IT courses overall could mean fewer graduates for all industries affecting the public sector’s ability to compete for candidates. David Evans, government relations spokesperson at the BCS, said: “Those who can afford to raise salaries and become more aggressive about their recruitment are going to be the ones who attract the best IT graduates. There is always going to be a point further on down the line when this will start to affect those things that matter to us on a daily basis, like public services.” Professor Dominic Palmer-Brown, associate dean of the School of Computing and Technology at the University of East London, said: “Around 50% of the population are female and we recruit extremely poorly from that 50%. If we could do something to address that, we could make a massive change.