Skills, apprenticeships and the new NI Executive: Celebrating NI Apprenticeship Week

by Marek Zemanik, Senior Public Policy Adviser, Scotland and NI, CIPD

This weekend we have finally seen a new NI Executive being formed. After years marked by the lack of stability in political institutions, this is unequivocally welcome news. But let’s not underestimate the breadth and scale of the challenges facing Ministers, not least in tackling Northern Ireland’s underlying and persisting labour market challenges. A recent DfE delivery plan reports that Northern Ireland has:??

• the highest rate of working-age economic inactivity in the UK for the past 30 years??
• the lowest median wage of the UK nations – over 8% lower than the UK average
• the fewest people with third-level qualifications and more with no qualifications than the UK as a whole??
• one of the worst-performing UK regions in terms of productivity, 10–20% below the UK average, and 40% lower than Ireland.??

It is apt that the Executive was formed just ahead of Northern Ireland’s Apprenticeship Week. Given our labour market challenges, as well as the skills shortages and gaps identified by employers over the last few years, the vocational/technical aspects of skills development systems need to play a much more significant role in public policy.??

Apprenticeships in particular, combining on-the-job training with vocational qualifications, have the potential to make a significant difference to reducing the gap between skills demand and supply across all four nations.??

CIPD’s Devolution and Evolution in UK Skills Policy report from last November offered a comparative look at the increasingly divergent systems and found several areas where Northern Ireland can improve – not least in expanding the apprenticeship system in its scale.?

With a new Minister in place, the CIPD looks forward to setting out a range of skills policy recommendations including:??

• Introduce ringfenced funding for Apprenticeship Levy-payers and put SkillUP on a permanent footing to provide a broader range of skills development opportunities for employers and employees.?
• Develop interventions to boost management capability and increase understanding of skills needs and development opportunities in small firms. For example, the CIPD’s People Skills model.??
• Refocus the scope of apprenticeship policy to include a discussion on direct financial incentives, alongside a focus on funding off-the-job training costs. For small business in particular, apprentice hiring incentives can make a difference.?
• Introduce fast-track routes to apprenticeship qualifications for adults with existing workplace skills.?
• Well-resourced and comprehensive careers services need to be a priority, with a focus on impartial advice on the breadth of vocational and academic pathways.?
• Close the gap in UK-wide employer advice on how to navigate skills development, in organisations that operate cross-nationally.?

?But of course, it is not just about public policy changes – employers themselves need to step up too. Last year’s Employer Skills Survey concerningly found that employers in Northern Ireland invest the least in training per employee out of all four UK nations.??

Furthermore, training intensity (days spent training per trainee) is also the lowest in Northern Ireland, as is the percentage of establishments that have funded any training for staff over the past 12 months.??

What is even more worrying, is that some of these indicators have worsened over time, despite the number of skills shortage vacancies more than doubling in Northern Ireland in recent years, from 5,372 in 2019 to 13,651 in 2022.??

The good news is that there is a plan to change this. The 10x Economic Vision, underpinned by a comprehensive Skills Strategy, enjoys broad support across Northern Ireland. There is good cooperation between institutions and (particularly) large employers. It is crucial that the new Executive reaffirms its commitment to the principles and focuses on supporting delivery plans.?

Apprenticeships must sit at the heart of our approach to the labour market. Expanding the system to meet skills demand, while maintaining high quality, has to be key.??

The CIPD, and our members, look forward to supporting this aim.?