Posts tagged ‘Skills’
Skills: Ministerial profile – Stephen Farry
Monday, October 10th, 2011agendaNi considers the new Employment and Learning Minister’s political background and priorities. North Down MLA Stephen Farry took charge of Alliance’s second ministry in May. First elected to the Assembly in 2007, Farry was a councillor on North Down Borough Council from 1993 until 2011. Formerly Alliance’s General Secretary, Farry was also the party’s finance spokesman and sat on the Finance Committee in the last term. The Queen’s politics graduate has been largely put in the spotlight over the issue of higher education tuition fees since his appointment as Employment and...[full story]
Skills: RSCni supporting education
Monday, October 10th, 2011An overview of the Regional Support Centre of Northern Ireland (RSCni) and its forthcoming work. With the start of the 2011-2012 academic year, the RSCni is once again at the forefront in delivering support to the six area-based Further Education (FE) colleges and the Higher Education (HE) institutions within Northern Ireland. With the world economic profile changing Northern Ireland has witnessed extensive economic changes, none more so than in education. Issues such as increased student fees, organisational restructuring, and new budget constraints have presented new challenges within...[full story]
Skills: Labour market summary
Monday, October 10th, 2011The Executive is pressing companies to recruit employees, as joblessness remains high. School leavers, graduates and claimants coming off benefits are most at risk of unemployment. Businesses must take the initiative and take on staff, according to the Executive, which has pledged £19 million to help create new jobs. In May-July 2011, unemployment stood at 7.4 per cent, representing 64,000 people. The claimant count (for August) stood at 60,400 as not all unemployed persons claim benefits. There are 7,000 more unemployed people and 2,900 more claimants than in the same periods last...[full story]
Skills: Employment and Learning Committee update
Monday, October 10th, 2011agendaNi reviews the Employment and Learning Committee’s work to date. Tuition fees, a higher education strategy, the proposed merger of Stranmillis College with Queen’s University and the consultation on widening participation in higher education focused members’ attention over the past three months. Other issues included workers’ rights, the impact of welfare reforms and proposals that new essential skills tutors must have a degree qualification. Committee Chair Basil McCrea tabled an Assembly debate on tuition fees on 28 June. Time was running out, he said, and students needed...[full story]
Skills: Skills, knowledge and success
Friday, July 9th, 2010Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey explains why he thinks Northern Ireland’s new skills strategy will improve our economic performance, especially by up-skilling those already in work. The economy is rightly at the heart of the Northern Ireland Executive’s current Programme for Government, but to achieve the innovative, dynamic economy the Executive aspires to, it must continue to refine its policy toolkit. The Independent Review of Economic Policy led by Professor Richard Barnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, recognises the important correlation between...[full story]
Skills: Skills for the future
Friday, July 9th, 2010A follow up to the 2006 skills strategy, Success through Skills 2 prepares for a future where 90 per cent of jobs will require formal qualifications and a highly skilled workforce. This revised draft strategy, put out to public consultation by Reg Empey on 1 June, centres on the fact that the 2008 Programme for Government’s main goal was to create an “innovative and dynamic” economy. In order to achieve this, Success through Skills 2 aims to increase the number of well qualified managers in the province, up-skill the current workforce and ensure that the future workforce has a...[full story]
Skills: Programme update
Friday, July 9th, 2010agendaNi tracks the Programme for Government’s main commitments on skills and checks what has been achieved or not to date. A highly skilled and flexible workforce is one of the ingredients for the “successful economy” desired by the Programme for Government, although there was also “much to do” to build that skills base. The document also recognised that a “tolerant, inclusive and stable society” would attract skills (i.e. those of migrant workers) and investment, thus implying that both would be deterred if this were not the case. Published in January 2008, the programme...[full story]
Skills: A right to training
Friday, July 9th, 2010A new Assembly law aims to make training for employees easier but plans are on hold until the economic pressure on business eases. Northern Ireland’s employees will have the right to ask for time off for training or study, when the economy improves. The proposal is contained in the technically- named Employment (No.2) Bill, which was introduced to the Assembly on 7 June and passed its second stage on 21 June. The Bill’s main thrust is to update the law on workplace disputes and speed up how they are resolved. On training and study, the overall aim is to make employees more aware,...[full story]
