The British government will fund a scheme to train unemployed graduates to fill the skills gap in Northern Ireland's computer software industry, it was announced yesterday.

The contract, believed to be worth £5 million sterling (€7.72 million), was awarded to the largest locally-owned IT company, BIC Systems, to train 750 out-of-work graduates in the next three years.

The government has decided to train 250 graduates a year after the success of an oversubscribed pilot scheme last year.

Announcing the Rapid Advancement Programme in Belfast, Mr John McFall, the Northern Ireland Training and Education Minister, said the initiative "underlines the government's determination both to help the unemployed and to ensure that one of our top growth industries is supplied with the skills it needs to meet the challenges of today and the future".