Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the European Commission’s country report on Ireland and the finding that skills shortages are increasing in certain sectors and the quality and availability of upskilling and reskilling opportunities remain inadequate (details supplied); the policy measures he is taking to tackle this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11035/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I welcome the publication of the European Commission's Country Report for Ireland.  I also welcome the findings that Ireland performs well regarding early-school-leaving and tertiary educational attainment and has made significant progress in improving the provision of basic skills.  It is good that the report also notes the increased expenditure on education and the Government's plans to continue to address investment in education.

I am also well aware of the challenges identified in the area of skills shortages, demographic trends for all levels of the education system and capital investment.

A number of my Department's policies and strategies include measures which will identify and address the skills needs of enterprise and learners in a number of sectors including those in the Commission’s Report.

The central vision of the Action Plan for Education 2016-2019, which was launched in 2016, is that Irish Education and Training should become the best in Europe over the next decade.  The plan contains hundreds of actions to be implemented with particular focus on disadvantage, skills, and continuous improvement within the education service.  Implementation and monitoring arrangements have been put in place within the Department.

With over 120 Actions involving over 50 stakeholders, the purpose of the National Skills Strategy 2025, which was also published in 2016 is to provide a framework for skills development that will help drive Ireland’s growth both economically and societally over the next decade.  The continued implementation of the Strategy will provide up skilling and reskilling opportunities in sectors where there are identified skills needs including those identified in the Country Report.

The Action Plan for Education and the National Skills Strategy 2025, provide for the establishment of the National Skills Council (NSC) and a refreshing of the mandate of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) as key elements of a new national skills infrastructure.  The Council, when established shortly, will oversee research and provide advice on the prioritisation of identified skills needs and how to secure the delivery of identified needs. Information will be provided to the Council from a range sources, including the EGFSN, the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit in SOLAS and the Regional Skills Fora.

At this point, the nine Regional Skills Fora are at varying stages of development. Early indications from their work are positive about the potential of the Fora to have a major impact at regional level in bringing together the key stakeholders to develop swift responses to emerging skills needs across a number of sectors, and also to build better data around the needs of enterprise and employers in the region. Ongoing interaction with the Fora is planned to ensure their work is fully supported and we will be prioritising the production of robust information to be presented to the National Skills Council when established.

The Skills Planning and Enterprise Engagement Unit of my Department was established in 2016 to support the implementation of the National Skills Strategy 2025 in a manner that links Further Education, Higher Education and skills issues involving the wider Department. The Unit will provide support to the soon to be established National Skills Council and the network of Regional Skills Fora. The Unit will also seek to facilitate co-operation across all Government Departments that have responsibility for specific aspects of the measures outlined in the National Skills Strategy.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA), which manages Springboard+ on behalf of my Department, has recently issued a competitive Call to all Higher Education providers for course proposals which will be funded under Springboard+ 2017. Springboard+ provides free full-time and part-time higher education courses in areas where there are identified skills needs and/or employment opportunities. Courses to date have been delivered in areas such ICT, Manufacturing which includes the biopharma sector, Construction, Entrepreneurship, Cross-Enterprise Skills, the Hospitality Sector and International Financial Services. Springboard+ incorporates the ICT skills conversion programme. Springboard + 2017 has now be extended to other priority groups where new talent can be reached and supported. From 2017, the eligibility criteria for Springboard+ will be expanded to include Homemakers, and those in employment in the Biopharma/Med Tech sector who wish to up skill or reskill to meet a specific emerging skills need.

The second ICT Action Plan was published in 2014 and covers the period 2014 – 2018.  The 2nd System Performance Report for Higher Education, published in December 2016, shows that the number of graduates from ICT-related programmes at levels 8 to 10 has increased from 2,362 in 2012 to 3,341 in 2014.  Through Springboard+ and ICT conversion courses, more than 3,500 graduates achieved ICT qualifications at levels 6 to 9 in 2014 and 2015.  Given the increasing demand for ICT professionals, the Department of Education and Skills is currently reviewing the ICT Action Plan and a new plan is to be published this year.

Within the Further Education and Training (FET) sector, significant improvements have been made in the planning and funding of provision since the publication of the FET Strategy in 2014.  Education and Training Boards engage in a service planning process annually against a range of detailed parameters set by SOLAS.  This process has been refined and improved each year and includes the use of strengthened labour market data provided by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit to ensure that the skill needs of learners and enterprise are met.

The FET services plan published by SOLAS each year since 2014 sets out measures to address FET skill needs in line with labour market and EGFSN forecasts.  ETBs are currently reviewing existing provision for the purpose of matching capacity with potential demand for specific programmes e.g. apprenticeship, engineering, entrepreneurship and IT. This will also enable the realignment of course provision to meet identified skills shortages.  To meet identified skill needs, the 2016 Service Plan provided for a number of new programmes in various business sectors including IT, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare, business & finance, manufacturing and the built environment.

I will continue to ensure the delivery of the actions in all of the education strategies and, in particular, the Action Plan for Education and am assured that Ireland's skills needs will continue to be addressed in the coming months and years.