In my answer to Mr Kelly I omitted to mention the relationship between my Department and the Department for Employment and Learning. We have regular discussions, and training forms a key part of the activities.

Mrs Courtney made a very good point. Undoubtedly, there is a degree of prejudice about certain illnesses. It would be interesting to see how these matters are treated, particularly in the Civil Service. I cannot confirm anything for the Member at the moment; however, I shall make enquiries about the matter and I shall write to the Member, rather than give her an off-the-cuff response.

I thank the Minister for his response in relation to the launch of the European campaign. However, he omitted one point, which is the issue of those who are bullied at work. It is a big issue for many people who are off as a result. Will any help be available in the campaign he outlined for those who are subject to that type of abuse?

There are several issues here. First, we must define "stress" and how it is categorised. For instance, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development carried out a social survey of farmers and farm families in 2001-02 to investigate the scale of work-related ill health in the farming community. The study found that 15% of the 3,400 people interviewed suffered from work-related ill health, with 5% of those interviewed reporting that stress, depression or anxiety was caused - or aggravated - by their work.

Furthermore, the situation varies between industries. Some people are continuously "off", as Mr Shannon put it, and it must be determined whether they are fit to return to work. People can be permanently disabled by stress-related illnesses. It is very difficult to be clear about stress-related illness. If someone has a broken leg, that is obvious. It is less obvious if someone is suffering from stress, and it can become progressively more difficult to analyse. The purpose behind the week of health promotion and the activity of the Health and Safety Executive is to raise awareness among employers, as well as workers. Taking Mrs Courtney's point, people should not be discriminated against because they suffer from that disability rather than from any other.

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5.

asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what plans he has to provide greater support for tourism projects in the Lagan Valley constituency.

(AQO 228/02)

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Invest Northern Ireland administer several financial assistance schemes aimed at developing visitor attractions and facilities, marketing projects, events support and business support in general. Applications for assistance under those initiatives are welcomed from projects in Lagan Valley. Support policies are continually under review and will be adjusted according to sector needs and tourism policy.

Officials from Lisburn City Council recently met the Minister and outlined the funding that the area has received from the Tourist Board in the past few years. I assume that the Minister agrees that that funding is minuscule. When will the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Tourist Board realise that there are areas between Belfast and the north coast, and between Belfast and Fermanagh, that attract tourism spend? When will the Department support events in those areas?

The Tourist Board is very conscious that events happen throughout the Province. In fact, it provides East Belfast with less funding than any other constituency. In the past 10 years, £2·85 million has been offered to 19 projects in Lagan Valley. The constituency is not ignored.

Applications are vital. The Tourist Board and the Department can only give assistance for which they are asked, and the objective of my meeting with Lisburn City Council was to attract a hotel project to Lisburn. The then mayor and some of his officials referred to the Department's moratorium, which has a radius of 10 miles from central Belfast. They felt that, were a hotel project proposed, the moratorium would be discriminatory because Lisburn would not qualify for grant aid. I made it clear that the 10-mile zone was an administrative decision, not a legal or statutory requirement. I also said that future projects would be considered carefully to determine whether they fulfilled the Department's overall policy objectives and that they would not be ruled out on the basis of the moratorium.

Last month, officials from Invest Northern Ireland met a potential developer to discuss the establishment of a hotel in Lisburn. Those discussions are ongoing.

Last week, the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment held the second of its tourism inquiry conferences in the heart of west Tyrone. During a workshop, the Committee was told that the domestic market generates the same amount of tourism revenue as visitors from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the rest of Europe - some £66 million per annum. I am very much in favour of attracting foreign visitors to our islands -

Do you have a question, Mr McMenamin?

Yes. Does the Minister agree that, if the home market were promoted more rigorously, it could attract even more revenue, especially in areas such as the Sperrins and west Tyrone?

I made a point when the Member for North Antrim, Mr Kane, asked me a question that did not relate to the question on the Order Paper, and my response to Mr McMenamin falls into the same category. Mr McMenamin's question does not relate to Mr Poots's question about Lagan Valley. I have answered Mr McMenamin's question in the past. I have no doubt that he will ask me it again in the future.

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6.

asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline his policy on designating enterprise zones that attract grant-aided incentives.

(AQO 195/02)

The Department has no plans to designate enterprise zones that attract grant-aided incentives. It uses other measures that are based on the new TSN maps, as well as a comprehensive series of policy initiatives that involve Invest Northern Ireland, to stimulate economic activity across Northern Ireland.

I pay tribute to the Department's work in creating more industrial parks in Omagh and Strabane. However, in order to promote the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, especially in provincial areas, will it seriously consider incentives beyond selective financial assistance? Will the Minister assure Members that, to encourage economic development, the Department and the district council will seriously consider support for Fintona, which does not have an industrial park?

You know what they say, Mr Deputy Speaker: if west Tyrone does not get you one way, it will get you another.

Past policy has been to focus on industrial land and parks in centres of significant population in each district council area. Therefore, as Mr Byrne said, not every town or village necessarily has such a facility. That would spread resources very thinly over a wide area, rather than concentrate them on a limited number of areas.

We have pushed hard in the past few years to attract investment to west Tyrone, with some success in Omagh and Strabane. The Member will recall the recent investment by Rixell Ltd at Doogary Road near Omagh.

As far as incentives other than selective financial assistance are concerned, we offer industrial derating, which is not given anywhere else in these islands. Other incentives include help with training, professional advice, and advice on broadband services. I am prepared to consider suggestions for other forms of assistance. It is something that must be kept under review and should not be curtailed because of bureaucratic requirements.

If the Member has specific ideas that would help his constituency, the Department will be happy to consider them. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and I have other strings to our bow, be they based on European funds or LEADER, to help promote development. The combination of those incentives ought to give us a significant package to offer.

I am taken by the Minister's specific references to aid. Given the loss of over 2,000 jobs in east Antrim, and in the light of the severe ongoing job losses there, will he urgently consider declaring east Antrim a strategic employment location in which innovation and entrepreneurship can be fast-tracked to arrest the serious and ongoing decline in the manufacturing sector there?

In view of my responses to the Member for North Antrim, who is no longer in the Chamber, and the Member for West Tyrone, I shall not answer the Member's question specifically, because it does not relate to the question tabled. I understand his point and I shall write to him about the particular matters he referred to, but he has strayed considerably from the original question.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Has the Minister had any discussions with the Tánaiste and her Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in the South about any potential benefits that could be gained from cross-border industrial parks on both sides of the border, given the economic decline there? What benefits might be accrued from such an establishment?

Tax incentives are not a matter for this Administration; they are a reserved matter for London. Therefore, I do not hold discussions with Ms Harney about tax incentives. I am not in a position to deal with them. However, we co-operate in other areas, and we have been working closely together, as have Invest Northern Ireland and IDA Ireland, particularly in the north-west, where an initiative is under way.

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8.

asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment what assessment he has made regarding the local government consultation by the B9 Company about the proposed offshore wind farm.

(AQO 180/02)

It is premature to make any assessment, because the private consortium responsible for the current proposals has only recently initiated comprehensive studies and consultations. It has distributed detailed information on a wide range of environmental and other studies, entered into discussions with local government, and made presentations on its proposals at four north-west council meetings and to the North West Region Cross Border Group.

The B9 Energy Group has spoken to several councils about the consultation process. Given the responses it has received, and the concerns that the residents of the north coast have voiced about the outcome of that process, can the Minister confirm that those concerns will be taken on board when the consultation process ends and if there are alternative sites that he will consider?

Minister, can you limit your response to about 30 seconds?

The question of sites is for the Crown Estate to determine - it owns the seabed. The Department's role is to license the generation of electricity; it does not deal with the site. The site in question is the only suitable one around the shores of Northern Ireland. The consultation must be comprehensive, and the Department will determine whether the site is appropriate and adequate, but it is too early to decide that yet.

Minister, you dealt with that subject with perfect timing.

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Employment and Learning

Questions 1, 12 and 14, standing in the names of Mr A Maginness, Mrs Carson and Ms Gildernew have been withdrawn and will receive a written answer.

Questions 2, 4, 6 and 13, standing in the names of Mr Hilditch, Mr Fee, Mr Hamilton and Mr Dalton, respectively have also been withdrawn but will not receive a written answer.

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3.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning when she proposes to introduce education maintenance allowances for 16-to-19-year olds.

(AQO 189/02)

Officials are examining the evaluation reports of the pilot schemes, which have been running in England and Scotland. In conjunction with the Minister of Education, I will consider the options which best suit Northern Ireland and bring forward joint proposals to the Executive in due course.

I am disappointed in the Minister's reply. Those I represent, most of the 16- to-19-year olds and their parents and I would have appreciated a more definitive answer. If the scheme is to be introduced from September 2004 in England, that will be unfair to our 16- to-19-year olds as they will be disadvantaged. Will the Minister give a more precise date, bearing in mind that the draft Budget which passed through the House last week allocated to her budget a 6·2% increase, which amounts to £40 million or £50 million?

I am open to considering any scheme that will widen access, and I will do my best to ensure that financial constraint is not a barrier to further education. The Member stated that it will be at least September 2004 before the scheme is introduced in England, and if it is suitable, I hope that we will introduce it here.

Does the Minister accept that the education maintenance allowances, which allow 16- to-19-year olds to continue at school rather than seek employment, are important for some families? If education maintenance allowances are to be introduced here, can the Minister say when?

If it is decided to introduce education maintenance allowances, and I am open to any suggestions that will widen access and ensure that finance is not a barrier, it would not be before the academic year beginning September 2004. I appreciate that that weekly allowance will be a considerable help to 16-to-19-year olds from low-income families. My Department and I will give careful consideration to the thresholds and eligibility conditions.

Can the Minister confirm that the educational maintenance allowance was a factor in the failed business plan of the West Belfast Springvale campus?

Will the Minister explain how she proposes to deal with the uncertainty that many will experience as a result of her sudden decision to pull the plug on this major initiative?

I am very disappointed by this setback; I am totally committed to the Springvale project. However, the two main promoters of the project - the University of Ulster and the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education - have concerns about its financial viability and sustainability. It would be foolhardy for anyone to proceed until those concerns have been addressed. I have asked the board of the Springvale project to review the situation urgently, to provide me with an update and to come back to me as soon as possible with alternative options, if necessary.

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5.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to give an update on the strategy for essential skills.

(AQO 200/02)

The Department for Employment and Learning has analysed feedback from the 'Essential Skills for Living' framework and consultation paper. A strategy and an action plan will be published by the end of September 2002. I am very pleased with the response to the consultation document. The strategy will improve greatly the lives of many people, and it will have a positive effect on society as a whole. It sets challenging targets to build capacity across providers of literacy and numeracy courses, and to engage a significant number of adults in improving their essential skills.

I am pleased that resources for the strategy were allocated in the draft Budget last week. However, the amounts are considerably lower than those allocated to similar strategies in the Republic of Ireland and in Great Britain.

Essential skills are a key issue that needs to be addressed in projects throughout Northern Ireland, particularly given that about one in four adults in Northern Ireland have the lowest levels of literacy, which, at best, is a reading age of 11. How will the essential skills strategy be funded?

The essential skills action plan is a cornerstone of my Department's work. I certainly appreciate how vital it is that we address the awful situation in which 24% of the adult population have low literacy. As I said, although I am pleased that the draft Budget allocated resources to the essential skills strategy, the funding is less than the amount required. There is a need for significant resources to put in place a quality infrastructure in the curriculum, the assessment qualifications and tutor training, and to engage the target number of learners in the strategy in the first year of its budget. However, insufficient resources have been allocated for the second and third years to meet the needs of the large number of adults with poor literacy and numeracy skills. My Department will continue to submit bids for funding in annual Budget rounds to sustain, and, I hope, expand, that capacity.

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7.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning what discussion she had with her Executive Colleagues regarding the promotion of entrepreneurship.

(AQO 205/02)

Lead responsibility for the promotion of entrepreneurship rests with my Colleague Sir Reg Empey in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. I have discussed the issue with him in the context of the Economic Development Forum, and I attend the meetings that he chairs. My officials work closely with, and support, officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the staff of Invest Northern Ireland, and officials in other Departments, on the development of a business birth-rate strategy. I do my best to ensure that my Executive Colleagues are aware of what the Department for Employment and Learning is doing to encourage entrepreneurship, by embedding the concept in everything that we do, including skills development, careers guidance and employment services.

I thank the Minister for a very full answer, and particularly for her reference that was supposed to illustrate joined-up government.

However, will she undertake to set up urgently university-level courses with entrepreneurship as their base specifically to target the over 2,000 highly qualified employees laid off by high-tech firms in east Antrim to ensure that these people create new high-tech businesses and to ensure that these skills are not dispersed across the globe? Will she undertake to work closely with her Colleague, Sir Reg Empey, to ensure that an imaginative response to this serious situation is urgently forthcoming?

I certainly acknowledge the serious situation there. I am sure that the Member is aware that we work closely in that area with employers and trainers. Some work is already being done in the universities. If the Member wants to put his suggestion in writing, we will consider it.

I congratulate the Minister on her work in encouraging entrepreneurship, particularly among young people. Given that 90% of businesses in Northern Ireland are small- to medium-sized, can she give us an assurance that the priority that she has given to encouraging entrepreneurship among young people will continue in the future?

Yes, I agree that it is essential that we concentrate on that. We do not have a great culture of entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland, and we must encourage and develop it. Although I do not wish to pre-empt the outcome of Invest Northern Ireland's work in the development of the business birth strategy, I envisage my Department's playing an important role in increasing the number of new business starts as set out in the Programme for Government 2002?. Entrepreneurship is increasingly integrated into courses in our universities and further education institutions with the aim of contributing to an enterprise culture in Northern Ireland.

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8.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning what plans she has to increase the number of modern apprenticeship places by 2004.

(AQO 204/02)

Modern apprenticeships are demand-led, work-based learning. They rely on interest from young people and the willingness of employers to employ and train them from day one. My Department is actively publicising the benefits of modern apprenticeships and raising awareness of them generally among young people, employers and employer representative bodies. I intend to set a target for 2003-04 of increasing participation in apprenticeships by 10%. The funding is there, and we want to work closely with employers. However, we are dependent on their co-operation.

The Minister said that modern apprenticeships are "demand-led". Will she be examining carefully why the money that has been allocated has not been drawn down? Is she aware of, and will she be taking into account, the target in Great Britain to raise the number of young people entering modern apprenticeships before the age of 22 to 28% by 2004? Does she accept that, like higher education, technical and craft skills are vital to our economy? Will she be giving increased measure to the development of modern apprenticeships in Northern Ireland?

I agree with everything the Member has said. We do all we can, and we will work with people to encourage the take-up of modern apprenticeships. The funding is available, but we are dependent on employers' cooperation to some extent. Working with employers is vital.

I welcome the Minister's response. How successful is the modern apprenticeship programme in Northern Ireland in attracting young people and employers?

As I have already said, I would like it to be more successful. It is excellent. However, we rely on young people's interest, employers' willingness and probably also on good careers advice so that young people are aware of the opportunities available.

We work as closely as we can with young people and their parents, schools, further education colleges and employers.

I am pleased that the Minister intends to increase the number of modern apprenticeships. However, can she say how she plans to encourage more employers to engage in the scheme? In the Foyle constituency, which has the highest rate of youth unemployment, there has been a marked decline in the number of modern apprenticeships, especially electrical training apprenticeships. There were just 14 in 2001 and about 30 the previous year.

We have commissioned a review of the effectiveness of the arrangements for modern apprenticeships in Northern Ireland that will examine the respective performances and roles of the sector training councils, the training organisations and the employers' organisations in the delivery of the programme. That review should be completed in December 2002.

My Department is doing all it can to promote modern apprenticeships; they are excellent, and funding is available. However, it is vitally important to have the employers on board.

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9.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning when she intends to visit the vocational learning unit at The Beeches, Aghalee.

(AQO 227/02)

I intend to visit the Beeches vocational learning unit at Aghalee on Wednesday 16 October 2002, and I look forward to that visit.

I thank the Minister for confirming her visit. I had written to her earlier in the year, and she said that she intended to come in the autumn. However, she needs to bring more than herself; she needs to bring some assurances about the European funding that was withdrawn. The Down Lisburn Trust is sustaining the unit, but that cannot continue indefinitely. Her Department has a role to play in providing funding for the unit.

Regrettably, I do not have the resources to continue to support projects that were not successful in their applications for EU funding. However, the Executive have agreed that £6 million will be made available from the Executive programme funds to ensure that critical services provided by projects are not lost. I have had a meeting with the Minister of Education and the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, and officials from my Department are involved in a cross-departmental working group with officials from the Department of Education and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. We are actively looking at transition from special schools to further and higher education.

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10.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning how much funding was allocated in the switch from ACE to Worktrack; and to make a statement on any improvement in efficiency.

(AQO 224/02)

ACE was closed and Worktrack introduced in the 1999-2000 financial year. In that year just over £11 million was expended on ACE and £1·6 million on Worktrack. Worktrack's allocation in the present financial year is £9·4 million. At the end of Worktrack's first full year of operation, its performance, with regard to participants taking up sustained employment, was about the same as that of ACE. However, as Worktrack is a six-month programme, while ACE lasted a year or more, there is a considerable gain in efficiency, and I am looking at ways of raising the performance levels.

Does the Minister agree that the work done by ACE is not being reflected in Worktrack? Indeed, there may be confusion about the transition from ACE to Worktrack. The systems that people were accustomed to in ACE do not seem to be reflected in Worktrack.

Unemployment in Northern Ireland fell from the start of the 1990s, and by the end of 1997 it was below the average level for the European Union. The greater number of people finding jobs and the continuing fall in unemployment, combined with the introduction of New Deal, made it necessary to re-examine the ACE programme.

ACE was introduced during a period of relatively high unemployment. The programme provided temporary employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed in projects of community benefit for up to 12 months, and could be extended to 18 months in the case of disabled persons. However, since New Deal is now the Government's main instrument to help the unemployed to get back to work, Worktrack complements that approach by providing temporary employment opportunities of up to 26 weeks in advance of New Deal thresholds.

I appreciate the Minister's comments about the switch from ACE to Worktrack, and about the improvements in efficiency. Will the Minister assure us that areas such as west Belfast, where many hundreds of young people are unemployed, will benefit from that improvement?

Earlier this year, independent consultants evaluated the Worktrack programme and found that there was a continuing need for it. Several recommendations on improving its effectiveness were made, including the increased use of private and public sector organisations to provide a wider range of job placements. My Department is considering those recommendations. From information gathered by the task force on employability and long-term unemployment, we learned that examining the barriers to employment would help us to tailor our programmes more successfully.

Questions 15 and 17, in the names of Mr Mick Murphy and Ms Sue Ramsey respectively, have been withdrawn.

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11.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning what steps she has taken in partnership with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to address the low levels of literacy among those in the agriculture industry.

(AQO 210/02)

I have briefed the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and other ministerial Colleagues on the development of the essential skills strategy. My departmental officials are working closely with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure that the essential skills provision is integrated into their training and development programmes.

The Minister's answer does not go far enough. What steps is she taking to provide training for the many people who have had to leave the agriculture industry in recent years because of low income, and who have little or no qualifications, other than knowledge of the trade of farming the land, grazing livestock, and crops, which has resulted in the success of highly profitable supermarkets?

The consultation on the essential skills strategy consisted of 18 seminars, and 195 responses were received. We consulted widely, in urban and rural areas, and all the key stakeholders were represented. The international adult literacy survey, which highlighted the fact that 24% of our adult population have literacy problems, showed that workers such as machine operators, and those in repetitious jobs, were often performing with low literacy. As part of the essential skills strategy, we shall establish a steering group to explore all those barriers and to discover how the most disadvantaged and excluded adults can be reached. I shall be chairing that group, and I assure the Member that I intend to progress the strategy.

I agree with Mr Armstrong that low literacy is prevalent among those in the agriculture industry. Some young farmers are unable to obtain driving licences because of their inability to complete the written part of the driving test. However, the solution to that is not within the remit of the Minister for Employment and Learning. What assurances can the Minister give that the needs of the agriculture industry will be fully met?

As I said in my response to Mr Armstrong, the Department for Employment and Learning consulted people in the rural and urban areas on the essential skills needs of those involved in the agriculture industry. The Department was looking for the main barriers to literacy. I will do all in my power to ensure that the Department, through the essential skills action plan, targets those who need help. That is a huge challenge, but I am determined that the Department will meet it. We have set ourselves high numbers. A new curriculum has been introduced, and the Department wants to ensure that the tutors are well trained and that the teaching is esteemed. I want to ensure that the Department for Employment and Learning will meet its own challenge.

We should be moving to question 16, but Mr Alex Attwood is not in his place. I call Mr Gerry McHugh.

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18.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to detail the achievement rate for NVQs in each of the last 3 years.

(AQO 222/02)

The NVQ achievement rate in the Jobskills programme is measured on a cohort basis, namely young people who enter Jobskills between 1 April each year and the following 31 March. The NVQ achievement rates for 1998-99 were 41% at level one and 49% at level two; for 1999-2000 they were 46% at level one and 51% at level two; and for 2000-01 it was 21% at level one. There is only one figure for 2000-01 because the Department looked at the key skills together.

I thank the Minister for her answer. Those achievement levels could be improved. Does the Minister have any innovative ideas to improve the grades? Levels one and two were mentioned, but many jobs in the higher sector of industry require level three. What is the possibility of increasing rates of achievement at level three?

I do not think that that is a problem. The problem is that those at key skills levels one and two are sometimes having difficulties caused by the requirement since 1999 for trainees to attain both an NVQ and the specified key skills. Although there has been an improvement in the key skill achievement rates, it is recognised that the recent introduction of the external test in key skills has exacerbated the problem for some young people. I have asked departmental officials to consider how the difficulties presented by key skills might best be addressed and to submit proposals for dealing with young people who are not ready to undertake a full framework.

We are doing better than Great Britain, but the NVQ rate has been somewhat depressed. Some school leavers are already demotivated and are not comfortable to be back in the classroom. The Department for Employment and Learning wants to get the balance between the essential key skills - which are set by employers - and the NVQ level.

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19.

asked the Minister for Employment and Learning to give an update on the progress of the task force on employability and long-term unemployment.

(AQO 201/02)

The draft report is with the Committee for Employment and Learning for consideration before submission to the Executive for approval and subsequent publication. I am looking forward to feedback from the Committee and to taking the draft report to my Executive Colleagues and on to publication.

How will the Minister ensure that the work of the task force continues once its action plan has been produced?

The report signals the beginning of an interdepartmental approach to addressing those vital issues, and the task force recognises that more needs to be done. It is committed to ensuring that the recommendations contained in the action plan are taken forward.

Additionally, as Minister, I will lead the implementation of the employability task force action plan. I will seek support for the action plan from the Northern Ireland Executive, the Assembly, the employer representative bodies, the trade union movement, education and training providers, and, not least, the community and voluntary sector. An interdepartmental implementation group, which will report to me, will ensure that those parties take responsibility for delivering on their commitments in the action plan. Progress towards action plan targets will be further monitored through the publication of New TSN action plans. Those will reflect individual Departments' commitments to the employability task force action plan. The implementation group will also put in place a local consultative process in each targeted area.

Time is up.

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