This news article has pegged UK as the second largest IT outsourcing market after the US:

The government has put a huge FOR SALE sign over the country’s public assets and services. According to the sharedserviceslink.com website, the bulletin board for “leaders in finance shared services”, the United Kingdom is the world’s largest out-sourcing market after the United States. The number of contracts in the UK has increased sharply by 47 per cent to 148 contracts a year since 2010. The annual contract value for this country jumped 16 per cent in 2012 to $3.75 billion! All this before the major sale drive about to take placein the NHS.

The International Services Group (ISG) states that the UK accounted for 80 per cent of all contracting out across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, making our government alone among the major European economies in using out-sourcing  as a key element in its response to austerity. Richard Vize, ofOutsourcer Eye, says that the application of cuts is dominated by “short-term thinking”. The effects of all this activity on quality or cost is unclear and there is no reliable information on the impact of cuts or out-sourcing – though these effects are visible, for example, in local government, the NHS and government agencies such as the Inland Revenue.

While EMEA was always considered the second largest ground, UK taking that cake on the back of a strong government driven initiative speaks of the growing importance of the country in the global marketplace. While the scale and growth rate are still lower than that of US, this demonstrates the prominence of the region not just in the European context but overall in the global IT market context.