Mr. Paul O'Toole:

I thank the joint committee for the opportunity to attend this meeting. As the last speaker, I realise I am the one who is keeping members from their discussion and debate and consequently, I will try to be as brief as possible in going through our paper, which I understand will be published. An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna probably is one of the youngest organisations in the State and is four months old this week. We were established under the Further Education and Training Act 2013, which gives the organisation a significant range of functions and powers to make a real contribution to the advancement of further education and training. The heart of the Act is about so doing, with obviously a purpose to improve learners' experience and I will revert to that point.

SOLAS has been very busy in the past four months. Among the key things we are obliged to do is to deliver to the Minister for Education and Skills a set of proposals, or roadmap if one likes, for the future of further education and training and we will do this by the end of March. We realise that of itself, SOLAS is only one actor in this hugely diverse and fascinating sector and consequently, will deliver a corporate plan regarding how we will play our part. For the first time, we will pull together the further education and training elements and will publish a services plan outlining what will happen this year. We have a very big job to do as we transfer to Mr. Michael Moriarty and his colleagues all the former FÁS training centres. Seven, and not six as stated in the report, already have moved. However, this is not about just moving centres as more than 400 staff have moved, as have all the resources and most importantly, the thousands of learners who are associated with the facilities. This has happened and the balance will transfer on 1 July.

SOLAS is deep in the process of developing the further education and training strategy. We have had a wide range of research consultation and that phase is over. We are in the process of drafting the strategy and will consult widely as we bring it to fruition. While much information and many themes are emerging, two main points have emerged that must be addressed. The first is to seize the opportunity to re-engineer the sector. It has grown up over many decades and a huge amount of fascinating and excellent work has happened and is occurring. However, we must plan, co-ordinate and manage it for the future and SOLAS intends to address this in the strategy. There also are immediate imperatives, as a programme for long-term unemployed people, for young unemployed people and the outworkings of the apprenticeship review must be all addressed in the short term. SOLAS will seek to do both.

We have given the joint committee a summary of existing provision that will continue. The main point I wish to make in this regard concerns business continuity. While we are doing all the redesigning and re-engineering, we must keep the show on the road and must ensure that current learners are getting the opportunities while all these changes are emerging. We have drawn up a summary of what we perceive to be the main benefits of both vocational and community education. It is about benefits in respect of higher wages, better employment prospects and the ability to retain a job. Such education contributes to employability, has an important role in providing skilled labour to meet replacement demand. It supports those in employment to improve their position when competing for work, helps job creation and productivity growth, supports labour market participants in coping with changes - we have been obliged to do a lot of that in recent years - and facilitates progression to higher education.

Community education, as Ms Bernie Brady has eloquently outlined, has a massive role to play. If I may digress slightly, this was brought home to me earlier this week when I had the opportunity to attend the Star awards, which are operated by Aontas and in which 260 contributors, volunteers, providers and learners came together to celebrate what community education can deliver. It was uplifting and humbling to be present and to participate in that process. The final point I would make is quite simple, namely, how will one judge success in this regard in five years' time? It simply will be about whether we could meet the challenges and could deliver demonstrably improved experiences and outcomes for learners who participate in further education and training.