Vol. 570 No. 2
79 Mr. Penrose asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the specific steps the Government intends to take to meet the commitment in Sustaining Progress to extend and deepen the partnership process in the workplace; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18472/03]
The new national partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, outlines several important initiatives that address the commitment to deepening the partnership process in the workplace. The agreement commits the National Centre for Partnership and Performance to playing an increasing role in supporting the process of extending and deepening partnership and performance in the workplace. The agreement identifies a number of specific projects which are to be carried forward by the centre to address these matters. These include the establishment of a forum on the workplace of the future, a joint project with FÁS to promote a learning culture in organisations and the development and dissemination of best practice in the area of partnership and performance. In this regard, case studies of good practice in the private sector have already been published and further examples will be published in the near future.
The National Centre for Partnership and Performance will also develop a national training strategy to assist those involved in organisational change through partnership. Guidelines on the different forms of employee financial involvement will be launched shortly. Work on a project aimed at improving practices and procedures in relation to information and consultation rights in the context of the information and consultation directive is under way. In addition, the centre will promote existing joint partnership training materials as developed by IBEC and ICTU. These projects, which have the full support of the social partners, will make a significant contribution to organisational change and modernisation in the coming years.
In addition to initiatives set out in Sustaining Progress, the centre recently launched two important tools to assist organisations in managing change and improving performance in their organisations. These are a competency framework on managing change through partnership and a learning by monitoring system, which includes an interactive website facility to support change through partnership.
