At their meeting on 21 February 2002, the Committee for Employment and Learning agreed their response on the draft 'Framework for Developing Northern Ireland's Participation in the European Union (EU).' The Committee recognises that this is a draft framework to inform a strategy, around which Northern Ireland's contribution to the European Union can be developed and made more effective and have thus limited their comments to this end.

The Committee agreed that each of the ten government departments in Northern Ireland needed to have effective contacts with the EU on areas within their specific remits, in order to build up expertise. However, the Committee also supports the role of the single unit, within the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), to act as a central co-ordinator.

The Committee would appreciate further information on the European dimension of employment and training issues and of the Committee's legislative role within the EU context. The Committee has often in the past been the recipients of EU directives, particularly in the area of employment legislation, and it is often unclear whether the Committee, or the Northern Ireland Assembly, has any regional discretion to amend this legislation.

The Department for Employment and Learning has a key role in the administration of European funding in Northern Ireland eg it received £21m of European Social Funding in November 2001 for employment and training projects. Areas such as labour mobility and student exchanges also lie within their remit and involve considerable interaction with the EU. The Committee would also look to Europe for models and benchmarks of excellence in areas such as training systems and community education.

To this end, the Committee recommends that the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels should provide support for all MLAs and that a dedicated and proactive information service on European issues should be established for all Assembly Committees.

Finally the Committee would urge proactivity and would support all efforts to inform all relevant persons and organisations of EU policies under consideration at an early stage. There needs to be a central, user-friendly source to access EU information. There is still a view that Northern Ireland is seen to be reacting to EU directives and members would wish the forthcoming strategy to address how consultation on such policies could better reflect the needs of Northern Ireland as a region.