Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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283. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he continues to monitor the skills and educational requirements as indicated by market demand; the extent to which he expects such demand to be met in full by the number of graduates or those with specific skills exiting the education sector on route to the workplace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25757/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, which is funded by my Department, plays a key role in advising on future skills needs and any emerging gaps. Its research provides a valuable input to the development of course curricula and has also informed the development of new competitive funding models of provision to address emerging skills needs, including Springboard, Momentum and the ICT skills conversion programmes. Springboard provides free part-time higher education courses for unemployed people in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. More than 10,000 places have been provided under the two rounds of the programme to date. A new call for proposals for courses to be run under Springboard 2013 issued by the Higher Education Authority in February 2013 and a new round of programmes will be announced next month.

The joint Government-Industry ICT Action Plan has been developed as a direct response to identified ICT skills shortages and contains a comprehensive range of measures to build the domestic supply of ICT graduates, including through the roll out of the ICT graduate skills conversion programmes. Over 700 people have been supported under the first phase of the ICT graduate skills conversion programmes which commenced in March 2012. A total of 423 people are due to graduate from these programmes by the end of this month and the remainder will graduate before the end of the year. In February 2013 more than 760 new places were made available on the conversion programmes in higher education institutions around the country. There are 6,500 training places are currently being rolled out for unemployed people under the Momentum programme. The training, which is aligned up to levels 5 and 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications, is targeted at areas of labour market demand and there is a particular focus on the needs of unemployed people under the age of 25.

Funding is also provided to Skillnets, where the development of training is led by representatives of industry ensuring that training provision meets the needs of the sector. In addition, a range of recommendations to ensure the system continues to respond to enterprise needs is being implemented through the National Strategy for Higher Education, including the development of an annual employer survey. The creation of a new further education and training authority, SOLAS, will also ensure an increased focus on the evolving skills requirements of industry.