Debate contribution: Skills Agenda: Update

Debate contribution by Mr Conor Murphy on 2 July 2024.

MLA

Mr Conor Murphy

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

2 July 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

Skills Agenda: Update

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4528861

Read the official Assembly record

Text

In February, I set out my strategic objectives for the economy: good jobs, productivity, regional balance and net zero. All four of those objectives are underpinned by skills. The Department has therefore been recalibrating its skills agenda in line with those objectives. Before the Assembly goes into recess, I will update Members on some of this work. Our skills ecosystem has many strengths: excellent universities and university colleges, as well as a modern college infrastructure; strong collaboration between industry and our further and higher education institutions; successful higher-level apprenticeships; and a pioneering Assured Skills model. However, in 2022, employers found 13,700 vacancies difficult to fill due to a lack of applicants with the required skills, qualifications and/or experience. That is more than double the 2019 figure. Between 2013-14 and 2022-23, enrolments in colleges fell from 180,000 to 117,000. The financial constraints imposed upon the Executive led to the creation of the maximum student number (MaSN) cap, which restricts the number of full-time undergraduates attending Queen's University and Ulster University, although it does not apply to students from abroad. Brexit has reduced our access to EU workers and deprived us of European social fund funding, which supported thousands of economically inactive people into work. The proportion of people aged 25 to 64 participating in education and training has fallen from 18% in 2016 to 16% in 2022, the lowest rate in these islands. When the Department received its budget in April, I created a ring-fenced fund of up to £12 million for skills interventions. I wish to use that fund to support various initiatives. Members will be aware that, in March, the British Government ended their funding for SKILL UP, which was an excellent programme that offered a range of accredited qualifications from level 1 to level 7. Those courses were free and delivered primarily online. Over 300 subject areas were available, including green technologies, digital advanced manufacturing and engineering, and health and life sciences. To continue that good work, £6 million will be used to fund a new SKILL UP programme, and a further £1 million will fund Skills Focus and InnovateUs, both of which are delivered by further education colleges. Skills Focus provides tailored training for businesses with fewer than 250 employees. InnovateUs helps businesses with fewer than 50 employees to acquire the necessary skills to engage in innovation. I have allocated £800,000 to fund green skills development, which will include new training courses and apprenticeship content. An allocation of £740,000 will support pathways into the childcare sector, supporting the supply of workers into that critical sector. This year, I will use £500,000 of the fund to launch a new public-sector apprenticeship scheme. There is £479,000 to support industry upskilling in partnership with our trade unions. Funding is also available to support women into STEM roles, to support graduates with additional needs and to fund a productivity booster scheme. The Executive have only a one-year budget from London, but I intend to maintain a significant level of investment in skills funding over the next three years. The skills barometer identifies technical and vocational qualifications as our primary area of shortage. That shortage contributes significantly to our stubbornly low productivity. It is vital that we grow college enrolments. As a first step, I have provided additional funding to colleges so that they can improve lecturers’ pay. My Department will work with colleges and trade unions to provide parity with teachers. I will soon commission a review of colleges, which will help us to realise their huge economic potential. Although our greatest shortage is in further education colleges, I am also concerned about the restrictions on the number of higher education students. I have therefore been working with my officials to identify additional resources to increase student numbers and MaSN. While studying elsewhere is a positive choice for some, I want to ensure that everyone who wants to study here is able do so. Regional balance is one of my four objectives, which is why I have put such a strong focus on delivering the Executive’s commitment to expanding the number of places at Ulster University’s (UU) Magee campus to 10,000 students. That is my top priority. Today, I am announcing that I am making funding available for an initial increase of around 500 undergraduate students at Magee. That funding will support students who have already been recruited over and above the MaSN cap by Ulster University, as well as students who will be starting in September. Following discussions with the Department of Health, 30 of those additional places will be for allied health professionals, which will help to address the crisis facing our health service. That announcement is only the start. The independent Magee task force will produce an action plan to deliver 10,000 student places. Working together, we will deliver this commitment as quickly as possible in a way that maximises economic and social benefits for the north-west. Another priority is ensuring that university education is more accessible for those from under-represented backgrounds. I want to support growth in that area across all our higher education institutions, and my Department is working with Queen’s University, the Open University, St Mary’s University College and Stranmillis University College to ensure there are more places for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am pleased to confirm that, as a first step, funding will be made available for an additional 50 places at Queen's for students from under-represented backgrounds from this September. After consultation with the Minister of Education, I am also reinstating the funding for Stranmillis and St Mary’s University Colleges that was cut last year. That will allow them to continue to recruit students into their teacher education programmes and will ensure that we have teachers in the North who are trained in our curriculum and in our schools. My officials are also in discussion with the Department of Education on ways in which we can provide more flexibility in how we manage student numbers at those institutions, which will help to strengthen their financial sustainability. Research in our higher education institutions contributes to the growth of our knowledge economy and helps us to attract talent. I therefore intend to provide, from September, additional funding for research, to include PhDs in economically relevant subjects. Queen's University Belfast will receive funding for 35 additional places, and Ulster University will receive funding for 16 additional PhDs at its Magee campus. That will cost approximately £1·3 million this year. It will build on the additional £3·3 million for research that I have already allocated to our universities this year; the doubling of the higher education innovation fund (HEIF), which supports the universities in translating research into real-world impact; and a 50% increase in the Connected programme, which sees FE colleges and universities working with small businesses to support innovation.

All those initiatives will increase the productivity of our economy. There are now over 13,000 apprentices, and I want to encourage more uptake of apprenticeship programmes from known inclusion gaps, including women and disabled people. In the autumn, my Department will therefore launch an apprenticeship inclusion challenge fund. The fund will support innovative solutions to our known inclusion challenges through collaboration with the education, business and community sectors. Although my Department has a range of provision and supports for young people with special educational needs that are delivered through further education colleges and universities and across our vocational training provision, there are significant gaps. I have therefore asked officials to review the current provision and provide me with recommendations for improving support for young people with special educational needs. I have also asked my officials to examine legislative protections and bring back advice as soon as possible. It is my hope that practical supports and legislative protections can be strengthened in this mandate. That will require collaboration across Departments. Although I am keen to ensure that as many of our young people as possible who want to study in the North can do so, I also want to ensure that there are fewer barriers to the movement of students on the island. From next year, postgraduates from the North who are studying in the South will be able to access a tuition fee loan. I intend to ensure that part-time students can be supported as well. We are also ensuring that knowledge about the application process for universities in the South is strengthened in schools and through careers advice. The Irish Government have been proactive in providing funding for the expansion of Magee and have also improved cross-border mobility by reviewing A-level grade equivalencies. There is certainly more work to be done, but I am encouraged by the promising engagement to date, which I intend to build on in order to make further progress. I have recently reached out to my counterpart, Minister Patrick O'Donovan TD, with a view to continuing that dialogue to remove barriers to cross-border study. I also want to see apprenticeship programmes across the island support the movement of apprentices across both jurisdictions. Further education colleges, given their geographical spread, actively build and maintain collaborative cross-border relationships at both sector and college level with their counterparts in the South. That has been key to accessing additional funding through initiatives such as PEACE PLUS, to the benefit of all learners, and I will continue to build on the positive engagements that have taken place with ministerial colleagues in the South to develop a dual agenda for all-island provision. At present, students whose household income is below £19,203 a year are entitled to receive the maximum maintenance grant of £3,475 a year. As a result of the financial pressures on the Executive, that threshold for maintenance support has been frozen at the same level for many years. The outworking of that is that the number of eligible households has declined year-on-year. Given the cost-of-living crisis facing students, I am determined to improve the situation. The earliest that changes can be made is from August 2025. At that point, I intend to raise the threshold for families that receive the maximum grant. The precise extent to which I can raise the threshold will be subject to the resources available in 2025-26. The need for more skilled workers is the top priority for businesses. I will continue to work with Executive colleagues, Members and industry representatives to bring more people into the labour market and to equip them with the skills needed by industry.

1,738 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:56 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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