Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which education continues to meet the skills requirement of the workplace; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38449/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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An Enterprise Engagement Forum, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, provides a regular opportunity for the major organisations representing enterprise and employers in Ireland to input to and discuss interests and concerns relevant to education and training policy and provision. The agenda for meetings are agreed with employer representatives and span the full range of education and training provision from school level through further education and onto higher education participation and research.

At school level, there are a range of subjects which foster workplace skills. As the new Junior Cycle is being introduced to schools, key skills are being built into every subject. These include skills such as communicating, working with other and managing information and thinking. Over the course of the three year Junior Cycle, every student should have an opportunity to "take initiative, be innovative and develop Entrepreneurial skills".

In Transition Year as well as the opportunity for work placement, students can take part in enterprise units and in student enterprise competitions such as the Student Enterprise award and the mini company "Get up and Go" competition. The latter is specifically for transition year students with an emphasis on team work. The mini-company involves students in research, planning, establishing a business, perhaps experiencing some risks and some failures – before you get it right, marketing, making or providing a service/product, drafting accounts, writing a report and finally winding down the company.

In Senior Cycle students taking the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and the Leaving Certificate Applied are provided with specific opportunities to acquire enterprise skills. These programmes place a strong focus on active learning, community-based approaches, personal development and teamwork. Students also engage in work experience.

My Department has a number of strategies and initiatives in place to ensure that further education and training meets the skills requirements of the workplace. SOLAS with the assistance of relevant experts such as the ESRI, employers and local and national organisations have published a five year strategy for the further education and training sector which provides us with a strategic roadmap for this crucial element of the education and training system. The strategy includes a vision of a flexible, quality-driven, labour market-relevant, integrated and responsive sector that supports learner progression, transitions into employment and personal development. In addition to the 5 year Strategy, SOLAS has published a first ever integrated Further Education and Training Services Plan for 2014 and it will provide information on the range of further education and training funded by the Irish Government and it will set out in detail how the State's investment in 2014 will be used by SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards to meet the skills needs of learners and employers.

Following on from the Apprenticeship Review an Apprenticeship Implementation Plan was published in June 2014. As part of this plan a new Apprenticeship Council is in the process of being established. The Council will be enterprise led and have representatives from business, trade unions, further and higher education bodies. The first job of work of the new Apprenticeship Council will be a call for proposals from industry for new apprenticeships. Along side this work, the curricula for current apprenticeships will continue to be reviewed under existing structures.

In the Higher Education Sector, engagement with enterprise is one of the core pillars of the National Strategy for Higher Education and provides a detailed framework and range of recommendations to ensure the system continues to respond to enterprise needs. This includes structured employer surveys and interaction, alignment of funding to national priorities, including skills needs, increased work placement opportunities, staff mobility into enterprise ,a focus on the development of generic skills in undergraduate programmes and the establishment of higher education institutional clusters at a regional level to support enterprise development and employment needs. In the Higher Education Sector, to address specific skills needs of enterprise and support jobseekers into employment my Department funds the Springboard and the ICT Conversion Programmes under the ICT Action Plan.

My Department, in conjunction with the Department of An Taoiseach, the Department of Social Protection and the relevant agencies– has developed an awareness campaign targeted at both the unemployed and employers - which brings together some of the range of enterprise-focused re-skilling initiatives that have been introduced in recent years. The 'brand' is entitled 'Skills to Work' and has been rolled out at various roadshows in recent months.