Urgent 'Focus and Pace' Needed to Equip Local Workforce with Right Skills says Assembly Committee

The Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says more ‘focus and pace’ is needed to equip the local workforce with the right skills to build a healthy economy.

In a report published today entitled, ‘Developing the skills for Northern Ireland’s future’, the Committee found that despite the development of the Skills Strategy, Northern Ireland continues to face significant shortages in key sectors. It is particularly concerned about the lack of coordination between the Department for the Economy and the Department of Education.

Daniel McCrossan, chair of the Public Accounts Committee said:

“The Department for the Economy spends around £470 million on support for skills and learning - and has more than 370 staff working in this area.  While it provides a broad range of skills programmes, there has been little progress towards or evidence of actually meeting the Skills Strategy’s goals. 

“We are strongly of the view that the Department’s financial and staff resources could be used more effectively if there was better collaboration and a clearer focus on achieving strategic outcomes.

“Both it and the Department of Education have found effective joint working challenging for a variety of reasons – but a cohesive approach to the delivery of the Skills Strategy is essential. Departments need to do much better and work with significant pace to achieve the Strategy’s goals.

“The Department for the Economy also needs to make greater use of the wealth of data available to it – in order to identify and understand current and future skills needs in Northern Ireland.

“With job vacancies in areas with skills shortages now five times higher than they were between 2015-2022, the focus needs to be on reducing the number of economically inactive people.  And to help people get jobs, they need to be equipped with the necessary skills.

“We believe the Department for the Economy needs to look at collaborating proactively with other departments, engaging with those people who are facing barriers to employment - and exploring new ways of working with employers.”

Cheryl Brownlee, Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee added:

“We believe more should be done to educate students about good employment opportunities to help influence the choices they make in a positive way - to benefit themselves and the local economy.  It’s concerning to note that despite the Department for the Economy providing funding of £372 million to further and higher education institutions in 2023-24, to help support skills and learning, they had little influence over what types of courses were offered.

“There is a duplication of educational services between schools and further education colleges and they are actually now less collaborative and more competitive.  It’s simply unacceptable that this is something both Departments are aware of but have taken no action on.  This is about the best use of public money and must be addressed as soon as possible, as highlighted in our list of recommendations.

“The Committee recommends that careers education and advice be reviewed to ensure that pupils are empowered to make informed choices that open up training and career opportunities aligned to the skills gaps identified.

“Members of the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly told us that most of them weren’t aware of what skills were needed here.  This has to change, along with better availability of information and guidance on educational pathways.”

The Committee also outlines its concerns in the report about the functionality of the IT system operated by the Department of Education – and calls for greater change.  PAC says the data already held in the school system could be used to help plan for the transition of pupils with SEN and/or physical disabilities - as well as help with the design of courses, if it were shared with the Department for the Economy and further education colleges.

The Committee makes 12 recommendations in its report, including that the soon-to-be-published skills action plan must be suitably challenging, timebound and must contain actions allocated to responsible officers. It also says it expects to see a specific action in this plan to address the delivery and uptake of courses aimed at reducing the skills gaps in the Northern Ireland economy.

PAC also wants to see the development of clear progress monitoring arrangements and for the results of this to be published annually.  It is also calling for the Departments for the Economy, Education and Health to establish a data-sharing agreement in the next six months.

The Committee is further recommending that governance arrangements and reporting structures are established within 12 months – and that a strategic assessment of the Department for the Economy’s skills programmes is completed within the same timeframe.

ENDS

For further information please contact Felicity Templeton, Communications Office on 07977 635930 or felicity.templeton@niassembly.gov.uk

Notes to Editors

• Read the full report.
• PAC’s inquiry was informed by a 2024 publication from the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO)
• The Committee received oral briefings and written evidence from the Department for the Economy and the Department of Education, and also heard from members of the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly and secondary level students through a Citizen Space Survey
• The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a Standing Committee. It is PAC’s statutory function to consider the accounts, and reports on accounts laid before the Assembly. View further information on the Committee Membership, its work and remit.