Vol. 489 No. 2
5 Mr. Perry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the initiatives, if any, she has taken in relation to training programmes geared towards meeting the skill requirements of the labour market and the needs of individuals; and the emphasis, if any, which will be given to equipping the unemployed and early school leavers with skills that are in demand and will be in demand in labour markets. [7742/98]
There is a broad range of initiatives in the training area on a number of levels, aimed at identifying and meeting the skills needs of the growing Irish economy. FÁS is taking a wide range of actions in this connection and it has carried out a programme of research activities to identify the sectors and occupations that are growing and are expected to grow in the future. FÁS has also carried out research into areas of skills shortages, both in terms of recruitment difficulties and skills deficiencies. FÁS is running a number of programmes to meet skills needs.
The Deputy has made specific reference to early school leavers and the unemployed. The Youthreach programme provides integrated education, training and work experience for young people aged between 15 and 18 years who have left school early without qualifications or vocational training. The national traineeship programme currently being developed has already proven to be a flexible way to meet emerging skills demands, particularly in the fields of technology and foreign languages. I am working with FÁS to ensure that we reach the ambitious target set in the White Paper on Human Resource Development of 5,000 traineeship places by the end of 1999.
The number of apprenticeships has risen rapidly in recent years to meet the demands of the economy, particularly in construction. In 1997 a record 5,300 persons were registered as apprentices compared with a level of 4,200 in 1996 and levels of around 3,000 in the preceding years. In November last, the Government announced the establishment of a £250 million education technology investment fund as part of a major drive aimed at raising the skills profile of our students and workers. Also last November, I launched in conjunction with the Minister for Education and Science a new business, education and training partnership. This will develop national strategies at the highest levels that tackle skills needs, manpower forecasting and education for industry and business.
One area where I have some concern relates to the relatively low proportion of long-term unemployed people who participate on training programmes. This is partly due to an inadequacy of foundation or progression type programmes such as would enable long-term unemployed people, frequently coming from a low education or skills base, to access higher skills programmes. I have asked the new board of FÁS to address this problem and I expect that it will bring forward proposals later this year.
Does the Tánaiste agree that a radical shake-up of training and a new approach to unemployment to combat the skills shortage is now needed? Given that 240,000 people are unemployed and it is expected that job creation in the labour market will be 7 per cent, the numbers unemployed will effectively not be reduced. What interest groups will be appointed to the expert group on future skills? It is important that the group represents business, the unemployed and others concerned with employment. Will the Tánaiste clarify why, from the EU allocation of £100 million for training in small and medium sized enterprises, the Government allots only £5.5 million for this area? This fund is specially designed for small enterprise initiatives but only a small fraction is spent on this area.
Will she also examine the future of in-house training, which is crucial for job creation? FÁS is doing an excellent jobs but a number of people on training schemes are not getting into the workforce because their schemes are not of benefit to employers. She should consider funding employers' specific needs if they guarantee they will maintain long-term employment. That would increase productivity.
Multinational companies receive £15,000 per employee while indigenous companies receive £3,000. The service sector is the greatest job creator of all but it receives no income support. Will the Tánaiste consider funding an initiative with FÁS to train business people to take on members of staff? The job start scheme provides £80 per week, which is totally inadequate. It means that people unemployed for three years——
The Deputy should refrain from making statements at Question Time.
Will the Tánaiste consider reducing the three year requirement to one year? People who have been unemployed for three years need retraining.
We need radical reform of our existing policies on human resource development and the foundation laid by my predecessor in the White Paper on Human Resources is where we should begin. As I told the House previously, that is why a small group was established last autumn, shortly after I took up office, between my Department and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, because the two Departments must work closely together. The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs deals with the clients who are unemployed and on the live register and it is the responsibility of my Department to create and sustain jobs and to provide training problems to ensure more people can gain access to jobs. That is the priority.
This year we will spend £750 million on various measures to encourage people from welfare to work. That is a substantial amount of money and we must ensure we are spending it in the right place. As the Deputy knows, a number of skills shortages have arisen in the economy, particularly in the electronic and software sectors, the high-tech end of the economy. As a fire brigade measure the Government had to take radical steps on gaining office to ensure we had the supply of skills necessary for the emerging jobs, because companies were beginning to wonder whether they could continue to invest in Ireland if we were not going to have people with suitable skills. That is why the £250 million fund was established over a three year period to ensure we have a ready supply of people with skills for emerging jobs. This year there are an extra 2,000 people on various education programmes, such as PLC, institute of technology and university courses being trained and equipped with the skills for the emerging jobs.
Notwithstanding that, there are clearly pressures on small to medium sized industry and that is one reason we are taking the industry support services from FÁS and putting them into the new indigenous agency which will be created by July. If we are to support it correctly and help it grow, develop and compete in the more competitive environment after EMU, it is essential that training is part of the package of support which Government gives to industry. If training is provided by a different agency from the one which is providing grant aid to allow companies to grow, which is also different from the one which supports companies in the export market, we are taking a diffuse approach which does not get the best results.
The Deputy wants to change the three year rule because someone out of work for that period has difficulties. There is a dilemma in that regard because in so far as the State has resources to spend — and they are considerable, as I said earlier — it is important that we target the long-term unemployed. Only 11 per cent of those in that group go on training courses and the longer one is out of work the more difficult it is to have access to employment opportunities. In the context of the review being carried out my priority is to ensure resources are targeted at the long-term unemployed. It is not necessary to exclude others and we clearly cannot do that but one wonders whether the State should spend money through its training agency on people with third level or university qualifications — and in some case postgraduate qualifications — rather than on the long-term unemployed. The dilemma is that the person with higher qualifications has a better opportunity to gain employment but one could argue that regardless of the State's training programme those with high qualifications will get employment opportunities in any event. The working group of my Department and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs will report shortly about the way forward on these matters. It is intended to implement the White Paper's recommendations.
