First Meeting of NI Employment and Skills Advisory Group
Mon 15 Jun 2009
The first meeting of the new Northern Ireland Employment and Skills Advisory Group took place on 9 & 10 June in the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Co. Down.
NEW GROUP WILL HELP SHAPE FUTURE SKILLS
A new independent advisory Group, which will help ensure that Northern Ireland businesses have the talent to compete in global markets and deliver faster economic growth, was announced today by Bill McGinnis.
The Northern Ireland Employment and Skills Advisory Group includes representatives of: employers; education and skills providers; the workforce; and international expertise.
Bill McGinnis, the Northern Ireland Adviser on Employment and Skills and Northern Ireland’s Commissioner on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, chaired the new Group’s first meeting recently in Newcastle, County Down.
Mr McGinnis, commenting on the role of the Group, said: “My aim is for Northern Ireland to be amongst the top band of high performing countries, in terms of employment, skills and productivity levels.
In order to achieve this, the new Group will encourage sustained employer engagement and investment in workplace skills.
It will also seek to improve the opportunities for people, both those in work and those outside the labour market, to raise their skills and enhance their employability.
To help deliver a more successful economy, the Group will provide advice on developing a more agile and accessible employment and skills system, which is demand led, based on best practice standards and supports the needs of employers and individuals.
This approach will help Northern Ireland businesses and their workforces to raise their competitiveness to the highest international standards, which in turn will foster faster economic growth and longer term prosperity.
We will also have an important role to play in helping to address the skills needs of future growth areas, such as those identified by the MATRIX Report findings. This means ensuring our efforts to enhance skills are focused on those priority areas most likely to have the greatest benefits for the Northern Ireland economy.
To take forward its work, the Group has identified its strategic aims and a number of key work areas. These include raising management and leadership capacity, as well as developing innovative solutions to engaging and supporting the small and medium sized businesses which underpin our economy.’’
Through Mr McGinnis, the Group will provide evidence-based employment and skills advice to the Minister for Employment and Learning and UK Commission, ensuring the business view is represented.
Also attending the Group’s discussions were Sir Reg Empey MLA, the Minister for Employment and Learning;Chris Humphries, Chief Executive, UK Commission for Employment and Skills; and Neil Gibson, Oxford Economics.
The members of the new Advisory Group on Employment and Skills are:
Bro McFerran, Chair, Belfast Region Workforce Development Forum, Managing Director of Northbrook Technology and currently President of the NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Cathy Taggart, Chair, Southern Region Workforce Development Forum
Donald Hackett, Chair, South Western Region Workforce Development Forum
John Toner, Chair, South Eastern Region Workforce Development Forum
Colm Cavanagh, Chair, North Western Region Workforce Development Forum
Graham Whitehurst, Chair, Northern Region Workforce Development Forum
David Hunter, UK Alliance of Sector Skills Councils
Mike Campbell, Director, UK Commission for Employment & Skills
Marie Bourke, Head of Human Capital and Labour Market Policy, Forfás
Peter Bunting, Assistant General Secretary, Northern Ireland Congress / Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Damian McDonnell, Chair, Matrix – NI Industry Science Panel
John D’Arcy, Chief Executive, Association of Northern Ireland Colleges
Richard Barnett, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ulster
Rosemary Hamilton, Director, Open University
Ellen Douglas Cowie, Pro Vice Chancellor, Queen’s University
Martin Lancaster, Workforce Development, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Catherine Bell, Deputy Secretary, Department for Employment and Learning
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