Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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205. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures she is taking to enhance enterprise policy to upskill workers in employment; and the actions set out in the action plan for jobs 2018 and in Enterprise 2025 Renewed towards this objective. [17305/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s enterprise policy has a strong focus on upskilling workers in employment. This can be seen in numerous ways including through policy documents such as the Action Plan for Jobs 2018 and Enterprise 2025 Renewed, and through my Department’s continued engagement with the Department of Education and Skills.

The Action Plan for Jobs 2018 has four immediate key aims. One of which is ensuring that workforce have the incentives and skills needed to prosper. The APJ has a dedicated chapter on participation, employment and meeting skills needs. Actions on enhancing enterprise policy to upskill workers in employment include:

The Roll out of the Skills for Growth Programme:Skills for Growth will include a package of supports for employers to help them understand and plan for their skills needs. This will include workshops to support companies to identify skills gaps and develop company skills plans, access to a new skills audit tool, and one-on-one assistance from a Regional Skills Forum Manager to use this tool and plan for the future.

Develop training initiatives to improve in-company capability:This will involve the implementation of the Finance Pillar of Enterprise Ireland’s Client Engagement Model for assessing client’s financial management capability their need for appropriate short and long-term funding.

Aligning skills supply with enterprise needs:This will be achieved through the support of up to 6,200 apprenticeship registrations, 3,900 traineeship enrolments and development of 10 new apprenticeship programmes in sectors of the economy with identified skills needs. This will also include engagement with SME owners and managers with the view to develop a Management Development offering and a competitive call to HEIs for proposals for Springboard+ courses.

Publish and implement successor to the ICT Skills Action Plan:The availability of appropriate skills for developing, implementing and using information and communication technology (ICT) is an important condition for the competitiveness and innovation of the economy. My Department is working in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills on producing a successor to the 2014-2018 ICT Action Plan.

Conduct and publish a study on Skills for the Digital Economy:The acquisition of new skills is vital to keep pace with advances in technology and the availability of the right skills is a key enabler of enterprise performance and growth. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs will undertake this study to ensure that the workforce is equipped with the requisite skills to fully unlock the benefits of the digital economy.

Enterprise 2025 Renewed reaffirms that the fundamentals of our enterprise policy remain sound – export-led growth underpinned by innovation and talent. The Review, taken in the context of more recent global change, has placed a priority on talent and skills.

The strategy sets out a range of actions many of which are being progressed by my Department (and others by the Department of Education and Skills) as appropriate. They include:

Addressing the likely increased demand for new skills post-Brexitincluding customs, logistics, risk management, supply chain management, international selling and foreign technical language capability, based on analysis to identify specific actions needed.

Engaging with enterprise to deliver impactful initiatives that meet the changing needs of business through a refocused National Training Fund, taking into consideration delivery throughout the regions of Ireland, to deliver skills-based employment that can support productivity-led wage increases.

Expanding the reach, engagement and impact of the Regional Skills Forato build on progress made to date.

Providing alternative education and training optionsthrough secondary schools, work places etc., to help people make the right choices for themselves and to stimulate continuous learning.

Through the actions and initiatives mentioned above, my Department and the Department of Education and Skills will continue to ensure that enterprise policy supports the upskilling of those in employment to allow for an adequate and appropriately skilled workforce.