I thank the committee for the opportunity to deliver this opening statement on encouraging and implementing learning in the workplace. Today's topic is broad and covers all learning by those at work through the various training and education programmes delivered by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Education and Science, and their respective agencies.
To give some context on these programmes and into this area generally, these education and training programmes are implemented within the policy framework of the national skills strategy, which is based on the expert group for future skills needs report entitled Tomorrow's Skills — Towards a National Skills Strategy. The report had four key conclusions: that more than 70% of our current workforce will still be in employment in 2020 and therefore learning in the workplace is important; as the economy increases its dependence on services and high technology manufacturing there will be a corresponding change in the skills needed; to compete internationally we need to upskill 500,000 people by at least one level on the national framework of qualifications over the period up to 2020, and of these 330,000 will be at or below leaving certificate levels or equivalent; and the barriers to participation in education and training are more pronounced for people with lower level skills. The report concluded that this justified State support of education and training for these individuals in particular, since otherwise they would not be in a position to participate in education and training.
The recent 2009 national skills bulletin, published by the expert group for future skills needs, concluded that some progress has already been made towards meeting the national skills strategy objectives. It found that between 2005 and 2008 the percentage of those with qualifications below leaving certificate fell from 29% to 24% and the percentage with honours degree or above increased from 20% to 25%.
The achievement of the targets and the vision contained in the NSS requires an integrated approach jointly led by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Education and Science and their agencies. The co-ordination mechanisms put in place include: an interdepartmental implementation committee for the implementation of the skills strategy chaired by the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, responsible for lifelong learning, Deputy Seán Haughey; and an upskilling co-ordination group that is chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and includes the key Departments and their agencies.
In terms of the programmes in this area, the main workplace related learning programmes across the training and education sectors are provided by the following. FÁS under its competency development programme and workplace basic education fund. The competency development programme has a 2009 budget of €13 million to train approximately 10,000 workers and has regional, sectoral and strategic alliance strands. The workplace basic education fund focuses on employee literacy and numeracy issues and has a 2009 budget of €3 million to train approximately 1,850 workers.
A further component of the programmes is that under Skillnets, its enterprise-led training networks programme, funds workplace based training for employees led by networks of firms with a 2009 budget of €16.6 million to train approximately 39,850 employees. The Department of Education and Science, under its back to education initiative, BTEI, funds flexible learning opportunities for participants, including employees, to return to education. In 2009 there are 9,000 places on the BTEI. The Higher Education Authority, under its strategic innovation fund, SIF, is funding several innovative flexible learning projects introducing new methods of course delivery and facilitating stronger partnerships between employers and academic institutions in supporting upskilling of the workforce. The overall allocation for flexible learning initiatives under SIF in 2009 is in the order of €3.5 million. The Department of Education and Science provides funding to vocational education committees to deliver adult literacy programmes, including workplace based schemes. VECs also deliver the return to learning scheme for outdoor based local authority staff as well as training for Health Service Executive employees.
I shall now talk about the obstacles to workplace learning. Subsequent to its work on the NSS, the expert group on future skills needs was also asked to examine the potential of a number of innovative measures to incentivise employers and employees to more fully engage in education and training. The group felt that the first measure, Skills Brokers, had the most potential to lead to an increase in employee participation in education and training programmes. Skills Brokers would identify a firm's training needs and source and fund relevant employee training programmes. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is considering how similar services, provided by its agencies, might be restructured to have a greater impact in this regard. The expert group concluded that other supports were of limited effectiveness in increasing employee participation in training and education.
With regard to compensating employers for lost output by allowing their staff time off to train, the group concluded that in other countries similar measures did not have a significant impact on employee participation in education and training. On creating individual learning accounts for employees, the group concluded that these accounts only had an impact on third level education participation and on creating new regional skills advisory groups the group felt that existing structures in Ireland were adequate.
We do of course need to recognise that since the national skills strategy was launched the employment market has deteriorated, with a sharp rise in unemployment. This in itself does not affect the importance of the national skills strategy objectives. Indeed for those individuals who have become unemployed, the need to upskill or reskill has only become more urgent. As a result the training and education system has changed its programmes to try to ensure that the upskilling needs of those who were up until recently in employment but are now unemployed are met.
Recent initiatives in this regard include a short-time work training programme for those working short-time. The following initiatives are for the fully unemployed: increased job search support places, increased training places, increased subsidised redundant apprentice places, increased part-time third level education places, a new work placement scheme and an increase in community employment places.
This has been a brief summary of the policy context, programmes and issues relating to encouraging and implementing learning in the workplace. My colleagues and I are happy to take any questions.