Mr. Gareth Lee:

It is very important for the committee members to know as much as possible about the skills requirement linked to section 481. It is a requirement around training and skills development. It is not linked to a specific role, and it is not specifically about trainees. As some of the witnesses explained in the previous session, the approach we have taken to it is very much holistic. It is about capturing skills development across productions at all levels. As an industry, we need to make sure we are developing people at all levels. It is very much Government and European policy to address lifelong learning and continuing professional development within the industry. In terms of how the system works, at the outset of a production, a producer will engage with crew and a skills development officer to develop a skills plan. That skills plan will outline the skills that will be developed across a production. That could include learning on the job, courses, shadowing, mentoring and skills development at the different levels I mentioned. Our role is to approve that plan if we feel it is approvable or to go back to the producer to request changes.

Once in place and approved, our role is to oversee the delivery of that across the production. We engage with the skills participants, as they are called, during that process. We do set visits and so on. At the end of the process, there is a compliance stage where we look and verify that the skills that have been developed across that project have been signed off and captured. Our role is not around what level that person might get hired at on the next job. That is obviously something for the employer and the individual. That is their remit. Our remit is to ensure skills are being tracked on production and they are being developed in that formal structured way. It is important to say skills have always been developed on production. That is why we have the fantastic crews we have in Ireland and we do the fantastic work we do. What this system has put in place is a more formal structure around it.

One of the great things that was referenced in the last session and is important is the development of this competency framework, which captures all the skills, knowledge and competencies for every role across 17 departments. Our plan, as a next step, is to look at certification for work-based learning. We are engaging with third level providers around developing certification, be it micro-credentials or whatever, that will give people certificates for the work that they do and the skills that are tracked on production. That is kind of the next step. Again, that is not us being involved in the employment relationship; it is just us putting resources and processes in place to help with that, which is where the certification would come into play eventually.