To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how his Department is working with Further and Higher Education institutions in East Londonderry to match training and skills development with the needs of the local economy.

Matching the training and skills development with the needs of the local economy is crucial to ensuring a strong and vibrant economy in Northern Ireland and my Department is committed to providing support to employers and ensuring that employers’ skills needs are met and continue to be met in a growing economy.

Within the new Further Education Strategy, “Further Education Means Success”, the economic development theme highlights the clear role the further education colleges play in identifying and meeting the skills and qualification needs of employers via a more economically focused curriculum, providing direct support to employers by upskilling employees, and supporting employers to become more competitive and innovative.

In implementing the strategy, colleges will play an enhanced role in working more strategically with employers and other key stakeholders to design and develop qualifications and curriculum that meet the current and future needs of employers and the economy. There will be a focus on provision to support strategically important areas of the economy, many of which are export driven, especially at level 3 and above.

The colleges will also continue to provide programmes and tailored solutions, such as Skills Focus and InnovateUs, to upskill employees and meet the specific skills needs of employers, and to support employers to become more competitive, to innovate and to source new markets.

My Department’s Higher Education Strategy, “Graduating to Success”, recognises the need to rebalance the profile of course provision so that it more closely reflects the needs of Northern Ireland’s economy, and this is as true in East Londonderry as it is across Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s Skills Barometer, which is the result of work that Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre has taken forward with my Department, indicates that skills shortages are particularly acute in certain subject areas, such as Engineering and Technology, Mathematics and Computer Science, Physical and Environmental Sciences and other private sector-driven subjects such as Business and Finance and Creative Arts and Design.

Both universities and all six further education colleges have well-developed mechanisms for engaging with local employers to ensure that the courses being developed meet their needs. The use of foundation degrees and an increasing focus on higher level apprenticeships across the HE and FE sectors, which include periods of work placement at their core, will also ensure that employers will be able to rely on a steady supply of work-ready graduates across a range of qualification levels in economically relevant areas.

We are also now seeing more enrolments in economically key Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths disciplines. In 2014/15, 22% of graduates were in STEM disciplines, up from 18% in 2008.

In addition, I personally chair three working groups representing key priority sectors. These are the Food and Drink Industry Working Group, the Information and Communications Technology Working Group and the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Services Working Group. The membership of these groups includes employers, further and higher education representatives, officials and others with relevant interests. These provide a valuable forum through which employers can articulate their skills needs and interact directly with service and programme providers.

My Department will continue to work with the further and higher education sectors and with industry to ensure that further and higher education provision will meet both the needs of industry and the people of Northern Ireland, including East Londonderry.