Vol. 513 No. 1
70 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach further to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1 of 1 December 1999, the way in which the National Centre for Partnership's training programmes for the private and public sectors are being delivered; the measurement mechanisms to monitor the success of the business plan for the joint delivery of the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1720/00]
71 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if, further to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1 of 1 December 1999, he has received the report of the consultants engaged to evaluate the progress made on partnership in both the public and private sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1721/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 71 together.
As I indicated to the House on 7 December, the National Centre for Partnership, established under Partnership 2000, has undertaken a significant amount of work in the past year.
In December 1998, a training programme for the development of partnership in the public sector workplace was launched. The programme is called Working Together. The programme is designed to help managers, trade union representatives and employees to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a partnership approach at the level of the workplace.
The training programme is of use to trainers-facilitators who are working with partnership groups, especially with groups that are getting started. The programme is available without charge from the NCP through attendance at half day briefings on the materials and their usage. To date approximately 100 organisations have attended these briefings.
For the private sector, a 13 module joint partnership training programme together with a supporting 25 minute video, was launched by me in Dublin Castle on 14 July last. This programme was developed jointly by the NCP, IBEC and ICTU as a very substantial contribution to enterprise level partnership.
A business plan which has been approved by the board of the centre for the joint delivery of this programme is being implemented at present. The business plan sets out clear parameters for joint delivery of this programme, together with a monitoring system to measure progress.
The programme is still at a pilot stage and is co-ordinated by a steering committee comprising senior representatives from IBEC, ICTU and the NCP. This committee meets regularly to review progress against agreed objectives set out in the business plan. The steering committee reports progress to the liaison group and board of the centre. There is a provision in the business plan for an independent evaluation to review the overall effectiveness of the public and in-company pilot phase of the programme.
