COMMITTEE FOR EMPLOYMENT AND LEARNING
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
WEDNESDAY, 13 JANUARY 2010
ROOM 30, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
Present:
Ms Sue Ramsey MLA (Chairperson)
Mr Thomas Buchanan MLA (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Paul Butler MLA
Mr Trevor Clarke MLA
Mr David Hilditch MLA
Mr William Irwin MLA
Ms Anna Lo MLA
Mr David McClarty MLA
Mrs Claire McGill MLA
In Attendance:
Mr Peter Hall (Assembly Clerk)
Mrs Sheila Mawhinney (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Mr Andrew Cooper (Clerical Supervisor)
Mr Bill Kinnear (Clerical Officer)
Apologies:
Rev Dr Robert Coulter MLA
Mr Pat Ramsey MLA
The meeting opened at 10. 03 am in public session
Apologies
Apologies are detailed above.
1. Minutes of the meetings held on 6 January 2010
Agreed: The minutes were agreed.
2. Briefing from Transition Training and Science Recruitment ( Ireland) on the Early Intervention Programme
Sheena Clegg from Transition Training, and Helen McGardle and George Corr from Science Recruitment ( Ireland), briefed the Committee on the work of their organisations in training unemployed adults in the fields of Information and Communications Technology and Peace and Reconciliation. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.
10.08 am Mr William Irwin joined the meeting
10.10 am Mrs Claire McGill joined the meeting
10.34 am Mr Thomas Buchanan joined the meeting
Agreed: Members agreed to forward the witness presentation to the Department.
3. Briefing from the Committee Clerk on the STEM Review Report
The Committee Clerk provided members with details of the main responses to the Committee’s consultation on the STEM Review Report and outlined the main issues highlighted by these responses. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.
11.05 am Ms Anna Lo left the meeting
Agreed : Members agreed to forward the responses to the Committee for Education, and to defer further consideration until the next meeting.
4. Subordinate Legislation
The Committee considered the following Statutory Rule which is subject to negative resolution and has been laid in the Assembly:
The Student Fees (Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations ( Northern Ireland) 2009.
11.05 am Ms Anna Lo rejoined the meeting
Question put and agreed:
“That the Committee for Employment and Learning has considered Statutory Rule 2009 No.400, The Student Fees (Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations ( Northern Ireland) 2009, and, subject to the ESR’s report, has no objection to the Rule.”
5. Matters Arising
- Update on Apprentices
Members noted the latest statistics supplied by the Department on redundancies in apprenticeships.
- UU Response to the Holyland Forum
Agreed: Members considered the response made by the University of Ulster to the Holyland Forum action plan and agreed to forward it to all the MLAs for South Belfast for comment. The Committee further agreed to write to the University endorsing the content of the response.
6. Chairperson’s Business
Members noted a number of items of correspondence and agreed responses.
7. Departmental Press Notices and Press cuttings
Members noted a number of recent Departmental press notices and other extracts from the local press.
8. Any Other Business
- Committee for Regional Development Research
Agreed: Members considered correspondence from the Regional Development Committee regarding research it has commissioned into accessible transport issues, and agreed to refer the DRD Committee to relevant stakeholders in this area.
- High-level ICT sector skills needs
Agreed: The Committee considered a research paper commissioned by DEL on the future demand for ICT skilled professionals and agreed to ask the Department for comment.
- NIAO report into Adult Literacy and Numeracy
Agreed: Members noted a report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office on adult literacy and numeracy, and agreed to return to it after it had been considered by the Public Accounts Committee.
- Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2007-2013
Members noted the above directory which provided an interesting and useful summary of ESF projects.
- Employment Services Board
Agreed: Members considered correspondence from the Employment Services Board regarding funding issues and agreed to invite the ESB to brief the Committee.
- Death of Sir Allen McClay
Agreed: Members noted the announcement of the death of Sir Allen McClay and agreed to write a letter of condolence to his widow.
- Forward Work Programme – for information
Members noted the Committee’s Forward Work Programme for the period of January 2009 to March 2010.
9. Date, time and place of next meeting
The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 in Room 30, Parliament Building.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 11.40 am