Minister urges employers to make your voice heard

19 March 2008

Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today urged employers to make their voices heard in the development of a demand-led system of training.

Speaking at the second annual Workforce Development Seminar, the Minister said that employers must play an active role in developing training which will deliver economically valuable skills where and when they are needed.

The event, which was held in Armagh, was attended by members of the Northern Ireland Skills Expert Group, representatives from six local Workforce Development Forums, senior officials from the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), Invest NI and representatives from local employers and training providers. Workforce Development Forums are employer-led bodies that work alongside government policy makers and local training providers to ensure that not only are local employers’ needs fully understood, but that local employment and skills solutions are available to match local conditions.

Sir Reg said: “The Skills Expert Group and representatives from each of the Workforce Development Forums have forged a solid partnership with my Department and have exerted significant influence over issues such as the identification of priority skills areas, the Careers Strategy and reviews of Higher and Further Education provision.

“I am personally committed to developing this system of employer engagement across Northern Ireland to ensure that we can better understand the needs of employers, directly from employers themselves.”

The Minister continued: “The vision of making Northern Ireland highly competitive in global terms can only be achieved if employers are prepared to engage with the process and to talk directly to us. I can assure you that my Department and I will be listening.”

Graham Whitehurst, General Manager at Michelin Ballymena and Chair of the Northern Workforce Development Forum, said: “As employers we should not expect our skills needs to be solely met by Government, we must be proactive in contributing to the development of the solutions that we need.”

Recognising that there was an urgent need to meet current skills shortages in maintenance engineering throughout the businesses in its region, the Northern Workforce Development Forum has recently developed a training proposal aimed at upskilling people from today’s workforce to deliver fully trained electro-mechanical personnel within a two-year timeframe.

Mr Whitehurst continued: “This initiative has come about through close co-operation between the Forum, the Northern Regional College, and the Engineering Training Council for Northern Ireland representing the Sector Skills Council for Engineering (SEMTA). DEL has responded very positively and we hope to be piloting this training by September.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Skills Expert Group was established by the Department for Employment and Learning to advise and make recommendations on matters affecting skills supply underpinning the development of the Northern Ireland economy.
  2. Workforce Development Forums bring together the supply and demand sides of the employment and skills issues at sub-regional levels to identify local employment and skills training needs and to articulate a strategic response to those needs from within existing resources.  These are employer-led structures and each is chaired by a prominent business person.
  3. Media enquiries to the Department of Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872.
  4. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715440 and your call will be returned.