Present:
Mrs Dolores Kelly MLA (Chairperson)
Mr Jonathan Bell MLA (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr Sydney Anderson MLA
Mr Chris Lyttle MLA
Mr David McClarty MLA
Mrs Claire McGill MLA
Mr Pat Ramsey MLA
Ms Sue Ramsey MLA
Mr Peter Weir MLA

In Attendance:
Mr Peter Hall (Assembly Clerk)
Mrs Sheila Mawhinney (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Miss Pauline Devlin (Clerical Supervisor)
Mr Bill Kinnear (Clerical Officer)

Apologies:
Mr Paul Butler MLA

The meeting opened in public session at 10.33 am.

Apologies

Apologies are detailed above.

1. Briefing from Mencap on Employment Issues for Young People with Learning Disabilities

The Committee was briefed by Teresa Hazzard, Mencap Employment Service Manager and Sammy McConnell, Programme participant, on the difficulties faced by young people with disabilities in finding employment and sourcing further education and training . The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.

10.35 am Mrs Claire McGill joined the meeting

10.40 am Mr Chris Lyttle joined the meeting

Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to the Minister in support of the work of Mencap

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2010

Agreed: The minutes were agreed.

3. Briefing on Employment Issues for Young People who are deaf or hard of hearing

Brian Symington, James Bailey, Michael Mulvenna and Claire Lavery from RNID briefed the Committee on the work of the organisation in providing training and access to employment for deaf and hard of hearing young people. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.

10.58 am Mr Jonathan Bell joined the meeting

11.05 am Ms Sue Ramsey joined the meeting

Agreed: The Committee agreed to write to the Minister to seek clarification on a number of issues raised by RNID

11.21 am Mr Pat Ramsey left the meeting

4. Subordinate Legislation

• SL1 – The Student Fees (Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

The Committee considered the above proposal and agreed to defer further consideration until the Statutory Rule has been laid.

• The Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees (Amendment) Regulations 2010

The Committee considered these Regulations and was content for the Amendment to be made

11.14 am Mr Pat Ramsey rejoined the meeting

11.14 am Mr Peter Weir left the meeting

• SR 2010 No. 383 – The Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

Question put and agreed:

“That the Committee for Employment and Learning has considered SR 2010 No. 383 – The Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010, and has no objection to the Rule”

The meeting moved into closed session at 11.16 am

5. Consideration of the Committee’s report on its Inquiry into Young People who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs)

The Committee considered a draft report on its Inquiry into Young People Not in Education, Employment (NEETs) and was content with the proposed amendments.

Agreed: Members were content that the report should be printed and that the required extract of the minutes should be attached unapproved.

Agreed: The Committee further agreed that a date should be scheduled after the Christmas recess for a Plenary debate on the Report.

The meeting moved back into public session at 11.21 am

6. Correspondence

Members noted a number of items of correspondence and agreed responses.

7. Chairperson’s Business

The Chairperson provided a brief outline of her attendance at informal meetings and events, and drew members’ attention to various invitations received.

8. Matters Arising

• Higher Education Queries – DEL response

The Committee noted a response to various queries raised by Members during the last Departmental briefing on Higher Education issues.

11.23 am Mr Chris Lyttle left the meeting

• Widening Participation in Higher Education

Agreed: Members considered further information supplied by the Department on the review of the strategy on Widening Participation in Higher Education, and agreed to reconsider the report at its next meeting

• Re-contracting for Training for Success and Apprenticeships NI

Agreed: The Committee considered correspondence from the Department regarding the re-contracting for Training for Success and Apprenticeships NI, and agreed to write to the Minister highlighting various concerns raised by stakeholders

11.25 am Mr Chris Lyttle rejoined the meeting

• Local Employment Intermediary Service (LEMIS)

Agreed: The Committee considered a paper from the Department outlining its proposals for the procurement and funding of a LEMIS service, and approved an event to promote local partnerships designed to support the long-term unemployed into jobs

11.29 am Mr Peter Weir rejoined the meeting

• Apprenticeships Update

Members noted the above update for the month of December 2010

• QUB Briefing – Follow-up Information

Agreed: The Committee noted a response from the Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University, providing additional information requested by the Committee during his briefing session. Members agreed to schedule a briefing from representatives of the Student Unions to evaluate the student experience at local universities.

• NI Skills Advisor response

The Committee noted the above response to queries raised during the Skills Advisor’s briefing to the Committee.

• Redundancy Entitlements for Further Education lecturers

Agreed: Members noted a response from the Minister clarifying the redundancy entitlements of lecturers and various other staff employed in Further Education colleges, and agreed to forward it to the Trades Unions

11.35 am Mr Peter Weir left the meeting

11.37 am Mr David McClarty joined the meeting

• Success through STEM

Agreed: Members noted a summary of responses received by the Department to its consultation on the “Success through STEM” strategy, and agreed to respond to the consultation.

11.39 am Mr Pat Ramsey left the meeting

11.39 am Mr Sydney Anderson left the meeting

11.39 am Mr Jonathan Bell left the meeting

9. Date, time and place of next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 at 10.00 am in Room 30, Parliament Building

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 11.40 am

Mrs Dolores Kelly
Chairperson, Committee for Employment & Learning
12 January 2011

01 December 10 / Menu