By Policy Unit from NICVA
Published on 11 Apr 2005
The government’s proposed plan to boost skills in Northern Ireland concentrates too much on providers and employers, says NICVA’s response to ‘Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland’.
The government’s proposed plan to boost skills in Northern Ireland concentrates too much on providers and employers, says NICVA’s response to ‘Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland’, issued by the Department for Employment and Learning .
DEL argues that the level of skills in Northern Ireland is too low eg 23% of our working age population has no qualifications; 14% in England and Wales. Yet, its approach is largely ‘more of the same’ rather than radical overhaul. Employers will retain a central role in identifying and meeting skills needs.
NICVA urges more customer focus: “A better approach would have been to commission research into the people who have low work skills and qualifications to find out the reasons why; what they feel are the barriers to training and development; what sort of provision they would like; and what incentives they need to undergo training.”
The response also complains that the voluntary and community sector has been excluded from the strategy even though it is a large employment sector and has particular expertise in meeting the needs of disadvantaged learners.
Read the full response 
NICVA's Response (182Kb)
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