Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the various Government initiatives being taken in the area of training and skills and further education and how this will impact on employment prospects for those we hope to support.

I am sure that the Members will all agree that the many challenges presented by the current economic and unemployment crisis require a positive, concerted and coherent response from all interested parties. Government, training and education providers, and employers must all work together, domestically and internationally, locally and regionally to meet these significant challenges head-on.

The training and upskilling of the country's workforce through a variety of further education and training programmes is a vital element of this country's recovery from the current downturn. It will also play a vital part in securing the future competitive advantage of all enterprises and in enhancing future growth in productivity in this country.

In the programme for Government we undertook to introduce a more focused, targeted approach regarding the State's engagement with and support of the unemployed to keep them close to the labour market, provide education and training opportunities and to get them back into the workforce.

The Government is tackling unemployment generally through the twin strategies of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work. In 2012, the Government launched its Action Plan for Jobs, which is an ambitious jobs plan that aims to create the environment which will encourage the establishment of 100,000 new positions by 2016 and a further 100,000 by 2020. A further iteration of the action plan is currently being finalised for 2013 and it will shortly be published.

My Department played a key role in the successful implementation of this plan with a number of initiatives that were monitored on a regular basis to track progress. As part of this programme, the Government provided ¤20 million to establish a new Labour Market Education & Training Fund. The fund launched late last year is known as Momentum. It is being managed by FÁS. Momentum has been designed to provide targeted interventions to tackle the skills shortages in particular sectors of the Irish economy where vacancies have been identified. FÁS has carried out extensive research at national and regional level to establish where are the skills shortages. In responding to those skills shortages we will provide 6,500 training places for the long-term unemployed. Some of the places have been targeted specifically at young unemployed people. Momentum will be co-financed by the European Social Fund.

Skillnets, which is an industry-led, State-funded support body, also introduced a pilot management training initiative under the Action Plan for Jobs 2012. The new initiative is being branded as "Management Works" and has a budget of up to ¤1.2 million. This pilot project is being implemented, including the roll-out of a range of training and development programmes available to help private sector small and medium enterprises to improve their performance through seeking to build their managerial capability, which will allow them to improve trading both nationally and internationally.

The action plan also contained a commitment to initiate a review of the Irish apprenticeship training model, with a view to providing an updated model of training that delivers the necessary skilled workforce to service the needs of a rapidly changing economy and ensures an appropriate balance between supply and demand. This review is currently under way in the Department of Education and Skills and has been undertaken in two phases.

The first stage was the preparation of a background issues paper which provides, a factual description of the current system, including the governance arrangements, trends and forecasts in relation to recruitment, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the current model and identifying the range of possible options for change, as well as information on models of apprenticeship in other countries.

In 2013 it is proposed that the second phase of the review will involve consultation with all key stakeholders on the options for change. The arrangements for this phase of the review are currently being finalised. Our track record of apprenticeship provision is very strong but we need to examine the model and, perhaps, reconstruct it to meet the challenges of an ever changing and innovative jobs market.

I was fortunate to meet at a recent event the global vice president of one of the world's biggest software companies. The company employs 45,000 people worldwide, 2,000 of whom are based in Cork. He told me that 85% of the company's revenue is now derived from products developed within the company over the last 18 months. He said that any company which does not constantly innovate new products and services will be left behind. Our apprenticeship model must be able to respond to demand and rapid change in the labour market to ensure the interventions we make through the apprenticeship model are meaningful for those partaking in it. The model must allow us to be ever more competitive in a rapidly changing global economy.

The action plan for jobs saw the implementation of many of the recommendations of the joint Government-industry ICT action plan. The ICT skills conversion programme supports the delivery in partnership with industry of intensive, level 8 ICT conversion programmes to build the domestic supply of high level ICT skills graduates. More than 700 places were provided in the first phase of programmes from March 2012 and graduates will become available in the first half of 2013. There are positive initial indications in respect of employment outcomes for the first phase participants. A full evaluation of the first phase will be carried out in 2013. One of the reasons the ICT conversion programme has been so successful in creating long-term sustainable careers is significant co-operation with the major ICT firms based in Ireland on the design of the programme curricula. There has also been a significant work-placement element within the graduate skills conversion programme. The Springboard and ICT skills programmes are two new competitive funding streams that have been introduced since 2011 to address the specific skills needs of enterprise and to support jobseekers to re-skill in areas where employment opportunities are emerging as the economy recovers. To date, more than 10,000 unemployed or previously self-employed people have been provided with places under Springboard and a further 5,000 places are expected to be delivered in 2013. Collaboration with industry is, again, very much to the forefront in the Springboard model.

To complement the action plan for jobs, the Government launched the pathways-to-work initiative which provides for a more realistic, targeted approach to help and support unemployed individuals, especially the long-term unemployed and young people, to stay close to the labour market. The Government has also introduced a new integrated employment and support service entitled "Intreo" which is being managed under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection. The services and supports involved were previously provided by three distinct State services and the innovative integration of these supports has facilitated the development of a co-ordinated structure which provides unemployed people, particularly the long-term unemployed, with options and assistance in finding jobs or referrals to appropriate education and training. Intreo provides a valuable and innovative one-stop-shop service in every region. In addition, FÁS training services will facilitate unemployed individuals through a range of training programmes that provide industrially and occupationally specific skills as well as preparatory type training to enable a diverse range of unemployed individuals referred to FÁS through Intreo to gain a recognised qualification, access job opportunities or progress to further and higher education or training.

It is argued that the further education and training sector has grown in an uncoordinated way without strategic direction over many years. VECs deliver further education while FÁS delivers training. The current separation of further education and training is an obstacle to the delivery of a 21st-century service to jobseekers and learners. We have a further education and training sector that is fragmented and in which a great deal of duplication takes place. A lot of the same kinds of further education and training opportunities are delivered by VECs and FÁS, often in the same towns. The Government decided in July 2011 to merge the further education and training services into a single cohesive unit under the strategic direction of a new further education and training authority called SOLAS. FÁS will be dissolved as part of this process. SOLAS will be a new organisation with a new mandate which will merge further education and training. This represents possibly the most significant change in further education in over 70 years and the most significant change in the training sector since the establishment of FÁS over 25 years ago.

An action plan for the establishment of SOLAS was developed by a cross-departmental group which also included representatives from the further education sector and the private sector. The plan was approved by the Cabinet committee on Pathways to Work and is available on the Department's website. There is great potential in the sector which has not been unlocked to date because of the lack of an overarching vision and strategic delivery. This is a time of great challenge for Ireland. A world-class further education and training sector will help us get back on our feet and back to work through upskilling for the jobs and society of tomorrow. SOLAS will bring a strategic direction to the sector and enable and empower the new education and training boards to deliver an integrated further education and training sector for our people. The creation of SOLAS is part of a wider range of Government reforms in the areas of further education and training and the activation of the unemployed. The Department of Social Protection is currently developing and rolling out the new national employment and entitlement service, Intreo. As part of the process, responsibility for FÁS employment services and FÁS employment programmes which involve over 700 staff was transferred to the Department of Social Protection on 1 January 2012. This reform provides a single point of contact for the establishment of entitlements and the activation of the unemployed.

There are currently 33 vocational educational committees delivering education including further education. Legislation is now well advanced for the 33 VECs to be replaced by 16 education and training boards, or ETBs. Following the creation of the new training boards and the establishment of SOLAS, FÁS training centres and related staff will be transferred on a gradual basis to the appropriate ETB dependant on geographic location and readiness for transfer. FETAC, HETAC, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and the Irish Universities Quality Board have recently been amalgamated into Qualification and Quality Ireland, QQI, the new integrated body for quality and qualifications in Ireland. A theme running through these reforms is integration. Integrated services will be the most efficient, from a value-for-money point of view, and the most effective, from an outcomes and quality point of view. Taking into account the relationships and dependencies that exist between each of these elements, the implementation of this wider reform process will prove extremely challenging and will require a dedication of purpose and a well planned programme of change. As we carry out this fundamental restructuring of our VEC and training sectors, rationalising 33 VECs into 16 ETBs while transferring FÁS's training role to the latter, we must not forget those who are currently being supported through the system and to whom we are trying to provide the best training and further education opportunities. They cannot be neglected during the process of transition. It is not unlike trying to re-engineer an aeroplane while keeping it in the sky. That is how difficult this will be. My interaction with people in VECs and FÁS nationally indicates that they are enthused by the prospect of the merger and the possibilities it offers. I have every confidence that they will quickly make this work well.

SOLAS will be tasked with ensuring the provision of 21st-century, high-quality FET programmes which provide value-for-money and are integrated, flexible and responsive to the needs of learners and the requirements of a changed and changing economy. We will put in place structures to assess quickly how effective the further education and training opportunities will be. We will put in place software-based reporting mechanisms which allow people to provide almost instantaneous feedback to SOLAS and ETBs at regional level on the effectiveness of interventions and courses and on the supports they receive to re-engage with the labour market. That vital data will be sourced from each learner and held at both regional and national level to inform the design of courses and the provision of other supports for learners.

The repository of that data will be held at regional and national level and we will use the data to design course provision and other supports for learners.

The development of the strategy will involve consultation with the key stakeholders such as the ETBs and other providers of further education and training. There is significant capacity in the private sector, providing excellent further education and training opportunities. We will also consult the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Intreo, employers, Enterprise Ireland, the HEA and other bodies we consider appropriate.

SOLAS will not deliver programmes once the restructuring is complete. Its key function will be to provide for strategic oversight and funding for the main deliverers, the ETBs, and, where appropriate, the private sector. It will, however, maintain the delivery of FÁS services pending the completion of the transfer of the FÁS training division to the ETBs. SOLAS will develop and facilitate the development of new and existing further education and training programmes to meet the changing needs of employers and the labour market. It will also monitor the outputs and outcomes of these programmes to ensure they are relevant and delivered in an efficient and effective manner.

The Further Education and Training Bill 2013 was published recently. Its main provisions are the establishment of SOLAS and the dissolution of FÁS. It will also provide for the transfer of FÁS staff and property to SOLAS and, where appropriate, the onward transfer of staff to the appropriate ETB. This legislation will be discussed in greater detail when it is presented to the House in the coming months. I hope to bring it through both Houses by the end of May or early June. The Government is determined that the establishment of SOLAS, combined with the establishment of the education and training board structures, with a modern Irish apprenticeship system, will provide that framework for the positive future management and development of the further education and training sector.

To complement these policy initiatives and despite reducing resources, the Government will fund up to 430,000 part-time and full-time education and training places across the range of provision in the higher education, further education and training sectors in 2013. Places on certain programmes have been prioritised specifically for those who have been unemployed for 12 months or more. Since 2009 Ireland has obtained significant funds from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for training and up-skilling in respect of specific large-scale redundancies. A typical EGF funded programme includes a mix of supports and allowances to assist the affected workers in re-skilling and up-skilling to maximise their opportunities of finding suitable alternative employment.

Ireland has made seven successful applications for EGF support. Six of these programmes have been completed, with one programme in respect of redundant workers from the Talk-Talk call centre facility in Waterford, operating. It is worth pointing out that from the six completed programmes to date more than 9,300 clients have benefited from EGF supports.

One of the priorities while Ireland is hosting the Presidency of the Council of the European Union will be the progression of discussions and agreement on the youth guarantee. The Commission's proposal is for a Council recommendation that each member state ensure no person under 25 years of age will remain unemployed, whether after job loss or on leaving formal education, for more than four continuous months without a good quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship.

While there is no easy solution to reducing the number who are unemployed, I reassure the House that the Government is taking all necessary steps to ensure we have a labour force with the skills needed to avail of future job opportunities as and when they arise. When the full extent of the reforms and new initiatives I have outlined is assessed, it is clear that the Government has a clear and structured framework for dealing with the skills agenda.

I again thank Senators for inviting me to discuss this very important topic. I look forward to hearing their views and contributions.