Minister calls on employers to help stop decline in apprenticeships

22 January 2008

Employment Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today stressed the fundamental importance of apprenticeships to Northern Ireland industries and called on employers to help stem the declining numbers.

During a debate in the Assembly on the decline of apprenticeships in the manufacturing industry, Sir Reg restated his commitment, and that of his Department, to the support programmes that are on offer to apprentices and employers.

Speaking after the debate he said: “My Department’s training programmes help large numbers of young people move from education into the world of work.  Last year alone the Department spent £51m on vocational training of which £12m was dedicated to apprenticeships. We are currently working towards a challenging target of 10,000 apprentices on Departmental programmes by 2010.

“This was an important debate, not just for manufacturing but for all of our industries. There is an apparent decline in the number of apprentices overall and while my Department can provide programmes of financial support for apprenticeship training, it is up to the employers to create the demand and to invest in the development of the skills necessary to grow their industries and make them competitive.”

The Minister continued, “Our economy is not static. Demand within certain sectors will increase, others will decline. The secret of our success will be to predict that change and to be flexible enough to react quickly. Training and development of our workforce is essential so that we have the indigenous skills, not only for our existing companies, but so that we can help attract more inward investment.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. Training for Success is Department for Employment and Learning’s flagship apprenticeship training programme. It replaces the former Jobskills and began on 3 September 2007.
  2. Since September 2007, there have been 4,509 new starts in Level 2-3 provision on Training for Success, including apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships and some 2,200 apprentices are still completing Jobskills training under the Modern Apprenticeship (route 2) strand.
  3. Apprentices must be in employment.
  4. Training is provided at Further Education Colleges or other training organisations on one or two days per week and the rest of training is work based with the employer.
  5. Apprentices complete a technical certificate, essential skills and a competence based qualification e.g. NVQ.
  6. There are some 90 apprenticeship frameworks available.
  7. Media queries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872.
  8. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.