Response on the Department for Employment and Learning's (DEL) draft Annual Business Plan 2002/03

1. General

Given that last year's Annual Business Plan was not published until halfway through the 2001/02 business year, the Committee for Employment and Learning welcomes the commitment to publishing this year's plan in April 2002. As the Committee has continually expressed concern at the slippage in the achievement of key targets in 2001/02, members also welcome the Permanent Secretary's commitment in the foreword to 'meeting the targets to achieve the Executive's commitments.'

Members have agreed that it would be extremely useful for the Department to identify the key targets for 2002/03 in the finalised plan, as is the practice in some other government departments.

The Committee notes that DEL's Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) has been included in draft form at Annex A in the draft plan. As the Committee has not yet received a response to the many issues raised in its submission on the draft SDA, it has not been reconsidered in this response. However members would urge that this document should be revised as soon as possible in order to meet both the Executive's and DEL's deadlines for placing the SDA and the Annual Business Plan in the public domain.

Members agreed that the information on page 8, relating to enrolments in the higher and further education sectors, would be more easily understood in tabulated form. The Committee also noted that the figures used are for the 2000/01 academic year and have asked when the 2001/02 figures will be available.

The discussion on page 11 regarding the overall employment situation in Northern Ireland would benefit from some reference to employability, especially given that DEL is the main driver behind the Taskforce on Employability and Long-Term Unemployment.

In its response on the draft SDA, members raised the fact that it was unclear how decisions were made at departmental level as to which performance targets are to be included annually in the SDA and which are to be included in DEL's Annual Business Plan. On page 16 it is stated that 'principle actions and targets are set out under each key issue and some of these have been included as appropriate in the SDA at Annex A.' Further clarification is therefore needed as to what 'as appropriate' means with regard to the inclusion of targets in the SDA. The Committee also noted that there is considerable duplication between the two documents.

The statement on page 12 that 'the Employment Service.. Focus for Work and New Deal are underpinned by an effective, all age information advisory and guidance service delivered by New Deal Personal Advisers and Careers Officers' needs to be qualified, given the recent problems with staffing in JobCentres and the ongoing Fulton Review of Careers Education and Guidance.

2.1.New Deal

Amongst concerns raised in the response to the draft SDA with regard to the New Deal programme were the limited targets for helping New Deal participants into work, given the current backlog of approximately 7,000 applications waiting to be placed on the programme. Given that officials agreed that the targets for the New Deal programme for next year needed to be completely revised, the Committee is disappointed that the target for the 18-24 programme has only been raised from 1,000 to 1,250 and that no changes have been made to the target for the New Deal 25+ programme. More challenging targets are needed in this respect. Members are concerned that New Deal still needs to be tailored more to suit Northern Ireland's needs, as it is still failing those most in need, especially the long-term unemployed and those with multiple barriers to employment.

The draft plan also states at page 17 that 'DEL will provide a range of services to help disabled people train for and enter sustainable employment.' Despite this, no targets have been set in the draft plan for services to the disabled in 2002/03. This omission is accentuated as the 2001/02 plan aimed for 400 extra places under the Access to Work scheme to increase training and support for the disabled and, at a recent meeting with the Committee, DEL officials admitted that this target would not be met due to 'severe staff shortages and increasing costs.' Coupled with the significant slippage in the production of the Bill with regard to disabled access to higher and further education, DEL's current provision of services to the disabled needs to be improved. A target date for the introduction of the Bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly should be included in the final plan as this is not likely to be achieved in the current business year.

2.2. Employment Rights

Under this issue the draft plan states that 'DEL will consult on proposals governing the conduct of Private Employment Agencies by March 2003.' As it is currently unclear whether the consultation process is to be merely initiated or concluded by March 2003, the Committee's view is that DEL should aim to complete the process by year-end.

2.3. Social Inclusion

The main issue here surrounds the confusion regarding the work of the Taskforce on Employability and Long Term Unemployment. DEL will be aware that, according to the business plan for 2001/02, the Taskforce is to produce an Action Plan by March 2002. However the draft plan for 2002/03 states that 'following further consideration, the Taskforce will produce a report on how current programmes might be improved and what new initiatives should be undertaken..Finally it will produce an Action Plan to implement those actions and initiatives.

This seems to refer to work which members understood to be on course for completion by the end of March 2002. Targets are required against which implementation of the Taskforce's Action Plan can be measured in 2002/03.

The Committee seeks clarification as to how Training for Work will provide an average of 2,000 training opportunities and how Worktrack will provide an average of 2,300 temporary employment opportunities in 2002/03. How is this to be measured?

Members consider the target to 'publish an enhanced communications and marketing strategy by September 2002,' to be misleading. DEL was to publish this strategy by May 2001 and there is nothing currently in the public domain which can be seen to be enhanced. The target therefore needs to be amended to reflect this situation.

2.4. Adult Literacy

The Committee welcomes DEL's recognition of improving adult literacy as 'one of its key challenges,' and that the draft plan commits DEL to finally publish its draft strategy by March 2002 and to putting in place a quality framework for adult literacy by September 2002. However members would be keen to see further action implemented against this framework in 2002/03 and amendment of the draft plan to reflect this.

The Committee wishes to be kept informed of the proposed membership of the Adult Literacy Committee and would expect some of the work which it will undertake until March 2003 to be set out in the finalised plan.

With regard to the target for the further education sector to 'engage 6,500 adult learners by March 2003,' this needs to be put into context e.g. is this an additional number of adult learners to be engaged and, if not, what is the current number within the further education sector?

2.5. Lifelong Learning

The Committee also seeks further clarity on the target 'to provide financial support to 25,000 learners through a new Individual Learning Account initiative incorporating learndirect centres.' Given that it has already been stated in the draft plan that 'some 32,000 people had taken out ILAs before suspension,' what exactly is being aimed for in 2002/03? e.g. is it to support current ILA holders or to attract people to the new initiative? Also does the use of the term 'new ILA' effectively rule out certain possible replacements to the old ILAs, such as company based learning accounts?

In this section, DEL state that they will 'meet the Programme for Government target of introducing a revised ILA scheme, incorporating Career Development Loans by March 2003.' The Department should note that the Programme for Government commits DEL to achieving this by September 2002. This demonstrates a worrying lack of consistency and read across between the two documents.

2.6. Skills Development

The draft refers to the work of the Northern Ireland Skills Taskforce in 'enabling DEL to align its programmes to industry's skill requirements.' Whilst the current business plan contains a target to 'meet the labour market research programme agreed with the Taskforce,' there are no targets in the current draft. This is despite the Programme for Government's commitment to 'improve labour market information and use it to ensure vocational education and training provision is responsive to current and future skill needs.'

DEL also state that they will 'work closely with the Northern Ireland Management Council' (NIMC) and that 'the Council's research function will be enhanced as well as its ability to promote the importance of investment in the business community.' The Committee seeks further detail on DEL's relationship with the NIMC, including any funding arrangements, and how the Department proposes to measure performance against this target.

2.7. Widening Access to, and Increasing Participation in, Higher and Further Education

The Committee notes the number of references in this section to 'maintaining funding.' The ambiguity of this term was raised with officials during the briefing on the draft SDA and they undertook to address this. The Committee also welcomes the fact that the recommendation from its Inquiry into Student Finance 'to streamline administrative procedures for students applying for financial assistance' is to be in place from the 2003/04 academic year.

Given that the current business plan had a target to 'evaluate the effectiveness of policies to widen access and increase participation in further education,' members are disappointed at the absence of targets for taking forward this evaluation. Members would appreciate details of the conclusions drawn from the 2001/02 evaluation.

2.8. Enhancing Quality in Further and Higher Education

The Committee welcomes the commitments in the draft plan to train the new members of the governing bodies of further education colleges and to establish procedures to deal with disputes involving these bodies.

However, regarding an effective management information system for the further education college network, members have agreed that the target in the draft plan 'to develop a plan to replace the management information system in colleges by March 2003' needs to be amended as more urgent action is required in this area. The Committee was informed during an evidence session on 21 June 2001, as part of its Inquiry into Education and Training for Industry, that DEL had already established the requirements of the system. Given the evidence of a trend decline in the financial position in the further education sector, with six colleges currently having recovery plans in place, the Committee is not content to wait for a year merely to see a plan developed and would urge more urgent action in this area. The Committee notes the correspondence of 27 February 2002 relating to this area.

2.9. Economic Relevance of Further and Higher Education

The Committee welcomes the comprehensive review of the strategy for further education and ask for more detail on how this is to be carried out and whether, following the review, an overall strategy for the sector will be produced.

Members have also questioned the Department's commitment to increasing numbers on the Foundation Degree pilots by 50%, to 150 in the autumn of 2002, before it has undertaken its primary evaluation of the pilot scheme.

2.10. Learning Policy

The Committee also welcomes the fact that the draft plan finally commits DEL to 'implementing accepted recommendations from the Strategic Review of Careers Education and Guidance. However it has been noted that there is no target date for implementation. This needs to be rectified in the final plan.

Members were also interested to note the target to support implementation of the Northern Ireland Business Education Partnership's (NIBEP) revised Strategic Plan. Given their particular interest in the work of this organisation, members were disappointed not to have been informed of this revision in advance and now request copies of the revised strategic plan together with detail on how this has been revised.

The Committee also request more detail on the support to be made available for NIBEP during 2002/03. This target will obviously not be achieved if NIBEP are not able to meet their commitments during the forthcoming financial year.

2.11. Research, Development and Innovation

The Committee notes that, although the draft states that DEL will 'take forward proposals emerging from both their Research and Development Strategy review and the Executive's overarching Research, Development and Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland,' no targets have been included in the draft against which progress can be monitored in 2002/03. This must be corrected.

2.12. E-Business

The Committee questions the statement in the draft plan that 'even if sufficient resource levels were available, the e-business strategy would take a number of years to implement in full.'

Members have asked whether DEL's e-business strategy is therefore aspirational and have requested more detail on the timescale for implementation. As the Committee has not yet had sight of the strategy it is unable to make further comment in this area. This should be forwarded to the Committee as soon as possible.

The Committee was assured at a recent briefing that the Department was on course to achieve the Programme for Government targets 'to make 25% of key services available electronically by 2002, and 100% by 2005.' Is this still the case?

Given that the progress report on the 2001/02 business plan submitted to the Committee in early February 2002 stated that 'work will soon begin on the development of a Departmental Risk Management Framework,' members noted that the draft for 2002/03 states that the framework is in place. The Committee seeks assurance that the Risk Management Framework will indeed be in place by April 2002, when the finalised plan is to be published.

Members noted the absence of a timescale in the draft plan for completion of the 'Needs and Effectiveness' evaluations. The plan needs to be rectified in this area to account for the commitment in the Programme for Government that these will be completed before summer 2002, in order to influence next year's Programme for Government and budget.

Given the substantial easements in DEL's budget in both 2000/01 and 2001/02, the Department should consider a target for expenditure within a very small tolerance of the total budget allocated for 2002/03. The Committee would also appreciate further detail in the plan on which financial figure the Department is managing to e.g.

• Total Resources Voted or
• Net Cash Requirement or
• Net Cash Requirement within the Departmental Expenditure Limit.

Recent correspondence from the Department has used a combination of these.

The Committee notes the target to 'implement the People Strategy in line with the Action Plan.' The Committee has repeatedly expressed concern at the delay in the launch of the People Strategy and were recently informed that it was to be launched at a 'Celebrating Success' Event on 6 February 2002. Members have still not received this document.

The key areas to be advanced in 2002/03 in support of the People Strategy need to be set out in the finalised plan.

Members also welcome the target to address the Department's worrying level of absenteeism and its subsequent effect on service delivery. However, the Committee believes that the draft target of 7.5% is not sufficiently challenging, given that the average rate across all government departments in 2000/01 was 6.8%. It would be appropriate to set a target for 2002/03 and a longer-term target to show the Department's intention.

Whilst the Committee notes some improvement in relation to target setting in the draft plan, there are many targets which still need to be more precise, in particular to ensure that they are both specific and time bound. Some examples are set out below. The Committee also recommends the inclusion of a baseline figure, where possible, to place all targets in context.

New Deal

To monitor and improve provision for participants with literacy needs and those with multiple barriers to employment. (Pg 17)

Employment Rights

Bring into effect, by way of an Assembly Bill and regulations, provisions on paternity and adoption leave and pay.

Widening Access to, and Increasing Participation in, Higher and Further Education

To sustain funding and review the Access and Partnership Funds.

Review and evaluate the Universities' Strategies and action plans for widening access.

Support the non-statutory further education sector to provide programmes for additional learners over 2001/02 targets.

Increase enrolments in Adult Literacy programmes by 1,000.

By September 2002, extend Strategic Restructuring Funding to assist FECs to align provision with the needs of the economy.

By March 2003, to support FEC staff and curriculum development activities in areas of skills need.

To carry out a number of internal activities to ensure that DEL's staff can obtain maximum benefit from existing IT systems.