Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Haughey, Minister of State with responsibility for lifelong learning. I would like to thank the Deputy for raising the matter. He referred to a specific case on which I am not able to comment.

In the prevailing economic circumstances, the Government's priority in response to the number of people who are unemployed has been to assist these individuals to get back into employment. It doubled the job search support capacity of FÁS this year to over 154,000 referrals from the national employment action plan. From a training and education perspective this year, the Department of Education and Skills will be providing over 160,000 training and employment places for the unemployed compared to the 66,000 places provided in 2008. It will also provide 170,000 full-time and part-time further education places and 156,000 full-time higher education places.

All higher education programmes covered by the free fees scheme are open to unemployed persons. Included in this provision are new measures and approaches such as the work placement programme which provides up to nine months work experience to the unemployed and the labour market activation fund, which was an open call for proposals for education and training provision for the unemployed. Under the fund a total of 59 providers from the public, private and community and voluntary sectors are being supported and will provide approximately 11,500 places.

However, the Government is equally committed to ensuring levels of employment and national competitiveness are maintained, and increased where possible, through the training and upskilling of those persons who are in work. The current budget for training persons in employment is €82.4 million. Of this €5.4 million funds the FÁS services to business programme while €77 million funds the FÁS apprenticeship programme. In addition, a budget of €16.6 million is available in 2010 to the Skillnets training networks programme from the national training fund. This funding is matched by funds from the companies involved in the training networks programme.

The Skillnets training networks programme facilitates the creation of learning networks of groups of companies operating in the same industrial sector or geographical area. The companies co-operate as a group to provide training which individual companies would be unable to undertake acting alone. Some 70 networks are funded and engaging in Skillnets training activity.

The Skillnets model is an enterprise-led approach to training and development. It supports the development of flexible and effective training delivery methods among those enterprises which previously had difficulty in accessing or benefiting from training. It also aims to address the lack of investment in human resources development and training by business through tackling some of the real and perceived barriers to training.

Skillnets does not specify the type or scope of training but supports the networks with resources and expertise. Networks arrange relevant, cost-effective and innovative training courses for their member companies. The key difference in the Skillnets approach is that the enterprise itself has total decision-making power and can customise training to its specific needs.

The Skillnets approach is cross-regional, cross-sectorial and firmly grounded in the strength and synergies of networking. Networks are self-selecting and guided by a commonality of need. Decision-making is devolved to the level of the industry group or other network grouping so as to maximise enterprise involvement in all aspects of delivery.

This leadership by industry has been one of the most important and effective success factors of the training networks programme. It has been key to the uptake of training from 1999 to 2009 by over 240,000 employees in more than 50,000 companies. In 2009, Skillnets trained some 40,000 persons and its target this year is to train over 60,000.

In the current training networks programme, an innovative feature, given the prevailing economic context, is the expansion of the trainee profile to include unemployed participants. Up to €1 million has been set aside by Skillnets again this year for the Finuas training networks programme to provide appropriate in-employment training in the international financial services sector. Specific skills gaps are being identified with over 1,200 persons trained in the sector and over 6,500 training days delivered in some 170 participating member companies.

The Department of Education and Skills also funds the Engineers Ireland continuing professional development programme. Another important support to employers in growing their business is provided by the county and city enterprise boards which can assist in the establishment and development of new and existing enterprises. The forms of financial assistance which are available include priming grants, expansion and development grants and feasibility and innovation study grants.

A large range of training and education grant aid and support programmes are available for those in employment, as well as for those who are unemployed. It is the Government's intention to sustain and broaden the national skills base through the judicious application of these types of programmes.

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