To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning, pursuant to AQW 48583/11-16, (i) to detail the extent to which his Department consulted with individual companies to discuss the importance of meeting their skills needs; and (ii) for his assessment of the capacity of Further and Higher Education institutions to meet these skills needs.

(i) In the course of my work as Minister, I engage with companies on a daily basis, helping me keep appraised of their skills needs. In addition, I receive representations from companies through, for example, the Ministerial Working Groups on Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering and the ICT Skills Working Group, both of which I chair.

Furthermore, my officials have regular contact with companies alongside Invest Northern Ireland through programmes such as Assured Skills, increasing my Department's business intelligence on in-demand skills.

(ii) The Employer Support Programme is a skills development programme, funded by my Department and is delivered across Northern Ireland by the six Further Education (FE) colleges. There are two strands to the programme: InnovateUs which delivers skills necessary to engage in innovation activity; and Skills Focus, which aims to increase the skills levels and employability of a business’s existing workforce to qualification at level 2 and above.

In delivering under the Employer Support Programme, colleges focus on engaging directly with, and providing support to, employers through identifying future skills needs, in collaboration with employers/skills groups, and being both proactive and reactive to employer skills needs in order to provide tailored skills provision.

Through the InnovateUs programme, the six FE colleges delivered 529 projects in 2014-2015 and a further 226 in 2015-2016 to date, while 115 projects have been delivered via Skills Focus this year. These interventions have covered a wide range of areas including, ICT, Engineering and Hospitality and Tourism. Funding in 2015-2016 for the Employer Support Programme is £3.2m, of which £2m is for delivery of InnovateUs and £1.2m for Skills Focus.

Due to the budget cuts facing my Department the universities are facing a reduction of full-time undergraduate places over the next three years. However, both universities have committed to protect narrow STEM places given the projected demand in these skills areas.

To further help inform the skills provision required for Northern Ireland, my Department has commissioned the development of a Northern Ireland Skills Barometer which will provide a clear indication of current, emerging and long term skills shortages. The barometer will also take account of future demand under a lower corporation tax environment, and it will provide a key role in shaping future policy. This work is now near completion for Year one and the key findings from the report will be published on 12 November.