Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1302. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans for reducing the NTF reserve over the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41026/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The National Training Fund (NTF) Act, 2000 provides for a levy on employers to be used to fund the development of and raising of skills amongst those in, or seeking, employment.

The reserve surplus of the NTF at the end of 2020 was €723m and by 2025 if expenditure remained stable (excluding Covid emergency spending) is expected to reach €1.8 billion.

The operation of the EU Fiscal Rules, prior to Covid-19, and the inclusion of the NTF in the Department's overall annual expenditure ceiling has meant that, in the absence of an increased rate of contribution or the availability of additional fiscal space, additional expenditure could not be sourced from the NTF without a corresponding drop in Exchequer expenditure. So while the surplus has built up over previous years due to improvements seen in the economic and labour market situation before Covid-19 started to impacted in 2020, it was not possible to increase expenditure beyond that generated by the increase in the levy.

There has been very substantial growth in NTF spending in recent years on the basis of the 0.3% increase in the Training Levy between 2018 and 2020 with expenditure increasing by over €190 million in this timeframe. This has supported a very significant expansion in investment in skills priorities. The accumulated surplus in the NTF has previously been critical in maintaining expenditure levels, particularly in the provision of training of those seeking employment, in recession years when NTF income declined. Currently standing at approximately one year's expenditure at current levels, the surplus has been important resourcing €100m for the July Jobs Stimulus and providing increased investment of €118.5m in Budget 2021 in skills and training priorities arising from the pandemic.

The NTF Advisory Group continues to be the mechanism to inform and guide on investment from the Fund and the use of the surplus. The Group has set out a detailed work plan over the next two years to examine a range of themes that will ultimately guide upskilling and reskilling priorities for the NTF into the future.