To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how Further Education Colleges are supporting (i) the creative industries; (ii) tourism food and drink sectors; (iii) the service sector; (iv) finance and business; (v) health service provision; and (vi) the construction sector.

The six further education colleges are key economic drivers in their areas, meeting the training and educational needs of local and international companies. Colleges also provide a full suite of business support services, including product development, rapid prototyping and support for innovation.

Colleges are the largest providers of professional and technical training in Northern Ireland, and they make a significant and high quality contribution to addressing the current and future skills needs of local and regional businesses. All of the colleges have a strong engagement with industry, offering training and learning development to employers and their employees.

Whilst my Department sets the strategic direction for the further education sector, each college is responsible for its own curriculum offer, including those areas which include the creative industries, tourism, food and drink sectors, the service sector, finance and business, health service provision and the construction sector.

Colleges offer a wide range of economically focused provision, tailored to meet local needs. Decisions on whether specific courses are offered is driven by the level of demand locally, and it is the responsibility of individual colleges to meet the needs of learners and employers in their locations in a cost effective way that ensures best use of public money.

Creative Industries

Colleges provide a flexible and important role in widening participation to provide students with a variety of routes and courses into the creative industries. The colleges work closely with the Creative and Cultural Skills Sector Skills Council on the provision of apprenticeships at Level 2 as well as supporting apprentices to achieve a full Level 3 qualification. Students can also access higher level skills such as Foundation Degrees in Digital Technology and Gaming and have the opportunity to use college state of the art facilities. In addition, the colleges recognise fully the importance of this sector to the Northern Ireland economy and students are able to develop practical and entrepreneurial skills to help prepare them for the world of work including self employment.

Food and Drink Sector

A Future Skills Action Group for the Food and Drink Manufacturing and Processing sector was established by my Department in 2011 to help the industry to identify and address the skills issues it faces. This group consists of a wide range of members from government, local employers and further and higher education providers who work collaboratively to develop and pilot interventions to ensure employers are getting people with the skills they need to grow this economically important sector.

One such intervention is the Food Engineering Apprenticeship which is currently being delivered by Southern Regional College. This initiative started in January 2014 and will see seven apprentices acquire both Level 2 and Level 3 accreditation in Engineering. Southern Regional College was instrumental in working with employers from the industry to develop the frameworks.

Services Sector

Colleges are represented and play an active role on the Ministerial Working Group for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Services which brings together a range of employers, representative bodies, government officials, other government departments. Colleges are also working with Energy and Utility Skills Sector Skills Council, to train apprentices in the energy and utility sector.

Finance and Business & Health Sector

Colleges currently support the finance business and health sectors with various projects including one entitled Career Academies, a programme that prepares students for the world of work. A key element of this programme is to link students to employers through master classes, mentoring, workplace visits and internships. Career Academies UK provides a structured programme and support to the schools and colleges around the UK who operate Career Academies.

The Academy, focusing on the business and finance & health sectors, aims to enhance the aspirations and career prospects of young, enthusiastic people aged 16-19 and give participating students the opportunity to broaden the number of genuine choices they have about their future education and career pathways.

Construction Sector

Colleges in conjunction with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) organise an annual skills competition known as Skillbuild, which provides apprentices with an important stepping stone to participate in the UK Skills competitions and also World Skills. The Skillsbuild competition covers a wide range of craft occupations such as – Bricklaying/ Cabinet Making/ Carpentry/ Dry Walling Systems/ Joinery/ Painting and Decorating/ Plastering/ Roofing/ Stonemasonry/ Wall and Floor Tiling and provides a perfect platform to demonstrate and showcase the enormous talent we have in the construction industry in Northern Ireland.

In addition, colleges are responsible for registering students for skills competitions in a number of sector areas, and for hosting local campus, inter-campus and Regional / Northern Ireland heats. There are at present around twenty skills areas in operation within the college network, covering all sectors of the economy. Successful students can go on to represent Northern Ireland at the UK Skills Show, and represent the UK at Worldskills. These competitions are designed to raise the awareness of young people, and those who influence them, to the opportunities available in sectors and raise the understanding in government, education and industry to the importance of skills training.

Assured Skills

My Department’s Assured Skills programme is designed to help attract new foreign direct investment companies and the expansion of indigenous businesses by assuring them that the skills they need to be successful are available in Northern Ireland. Assured Skills support is also available to encourage existing companies who are considering expansion. This supports the companies’ business plans by adding value to their training and development activity, and facilitates links with the further education and university sectors to design bespoke training solutions to up-skill existing staff, or to facilitate student or lecturer placements.

During this current year Assured Skills has created 2,073 potential jobs. Since the programme commenced in 2010/11, a total of 4,609 jobs across a number of sectors, including the service and financial services sector, have been created. Of the 4,609 jobs, 726 jobs relate to the financial services sector and over 1,000 are in the services sector.

Assured Skills also enhances the capability of NI to respond to the needs of potential investors by up-skilling lecturers to anticipate future needs, and by creating pools of talent with skills of interest to potential investors, for example by up-skilling unemployed graduates through the 'Academy' model. The Academy model is a short term intervention to help companies meet specific needs. To date, unemployed graduates have been up-skilled in software testing, cloud computing, data analytics, sales & marketing, financial services and professional software skills. All of the Academies mentioned above have been designed and delivered by further education colleges in partnership with Assured Skills.

Skills Solutions

Further Education colleges provide support across the sectors through provision of accredited training funded through my Department’s Customised Training Programme which allows colleges to deliver bespoke training solutions in response to specific needs.

Colleges are dedicated to providing a wide range of support for local employers, through sector-wide initiatives and projects, to encourage businesses to engage with and embrace innovation and sustainability. Further education colleges with support from my Department will also continue to play a pivotal role in up-skilling our workforce to meet the future skills challenges and support the future economic success of Northern Ireland.

Employer Support Programme

Finally, I can advise you that the Department’s Employer Support Programme, which is delivered by further education colleges, plays a vital role as a programme designed specifically for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. This programme helps small businesses to gain the skills and support to move forward in terms of innovation, by providing a unique, tailored training solution targeted at their individual innovation skills needs.