COMMITTEE FOR EMPLOYMENT AND LEARNING
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
WEDNESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2010
ROOM 30, PARLIAMENT BUILDING
Present:
Ms Sue Ramsey MLA (Chairperson)
Mr Jonathan Bell MLA
Mr Paul Butler MLA
Mr Trevor Clarke MLA
Ms Anna Lo MLA
Mr David McClarty MLA
Mrs Claire McGill MLA
Mr Pat Ramsey MLA
In Attendance:
Mr Peter Hall (Assembly Clerk)
Mrs Sheila Mawhinney (Assistant Assembly Clerk)
Mr Andy Cooper (Clerical Supervisor)
Mr Bill Kinnear (Clerical Officer)
Apologies:
Rev Dr Robert Coulter MLA
Mr David Hilditch MLA
Mr William Irwin MLA
The meeting opened at 10. 04 am in public session
Apologies
Apologies are detailed above.
1. Minutes of the meetings held on 10 February 2010
Agreed: The minutes were agreed.
2. Briefing from the Employment Services Board (ESB) on the work of their organisation.
Padraic White, Chairperson, Tom Mervyn, Director, Deirdre Timoney, Director of the Employers’ Forum, and John Simpson, Economist and Chair of the Shankill Task Force, briefed the Committee on the work of the ESB and on the current funding difficulties faced by the organisation. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.
11.05 am Mr Trevor Clarke joined the meeting
Agreed: Members agreed to seek an urgent meeting with the Minister to discuss the issues raised by ESB.
3. Briefing from Voypic in relation to the NEETs Inquiry
Mr Jonathan Bell declared an interest as a Senior Practitioner – Adolescent Social work/ Intensive Support Team - South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.
Members received a briefing from Vivian McConvey, Director, and Alicia Toal, Assistant Director, on the specific issues relating to young people in care who are not in education, employment or training. Three Trainee Sessional workers with Voypic also outlined young peoples’ concerns. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.
4. Draft Tourism Strategy for Northern Ireland
Mr Jonathan Bell declared an interest as a Director of the Armagh Down Tourism Partnership and the East Border Region.
Agreed : Members considered a briefing paper from the Department for Trade and Enterprise outlining a draft tourism strategy for Northern Ireland, and agreed to defer further consideration until the next meeting.
5. Matters Arising
12.18 pm Mr David McClarty left the meeting
- NEETs inquiry – Terms of Reference
Agreed: Members discussed the terms of reference for the NEETs inquiry and agreed various amendments.
- Review of Higher Education strategy
Agreed: Members considered the proposed terms of reference for the Review of Higher Education and agreed to write to the Department with suggested amendments.
- Response to proposed DARD amendments
Agreed: Members considered a response from the Ulster Farmers’ Union on proposed amendments to the Employment Bill and agreed to forward this to the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development.
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
- Community Transport
Agreed: Members considered correspondence from the Committee for Regional Development and agreed to forward it to the Minister.
- DSD proposed Statutory Rule
Agreed: Members noted the DSD SL1, The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010, and agreed to seek the views of employers’ organisations and the unions on the anticipated impact on the workplace.
12.30 pm Mr Paul Butler left the meeting
- Quarterly Research Review
Members noted the Departmental Quarterly Research Review publication.
- Multiple Deprivation Measure 2010
Members noted the terms of reference for this Measure.
12.31 pm Mr Trevor Clarke left the meeting
- Workforce Development Forums
Agreed: The Committee considered the reports of the North-West, South-West and South-East Workforce Development Forums into Future Skills Needs Analysis, and agreed to consider further such reports as they become available and to obtain a formal briefing from the Department.
- Forward Work Programme – for information
Members noted the Committee’s Forward Work Programme for the period of February to March 2010.
The meeting moved into closed session at 12.33 pm
9. Briefing from Departmental officials on draft proposals for the Review of Workplace Dispute Resolution Procedures.
Tom Evans and Alan Scott, Employment Relations Policy and Regulation, briefed the Committee on proposed changes to the Workplace Dispute Resolution Procedures . The briefing was followed by a question and answer session
Agreed: Members agreed to wait until all Ministerial responses had been received before making a formal response.
10. Date, time and place of next meeting
The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 in Room 30, Parliament Building.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 12.40 pm