Engineering Skills Agreements will help Northern Ireland firms
compete globally
Skills blueprints for the
engineering sector in Northern Ireland will be launched by Aideen
McGinley, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Employment and
Learning, this afternoon at a special event in
Belfast.
Engineering employers will join representatives from Northern
Ireland’s Government, education and training providers and funding
bodies at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, to learn how new Sector
Skills Agreements (SSAs) will help boost their productivity and
competitiveness. Semta, the Sector Skills Council for science,
engineering and manufacturing technologies, and its partner
organisation, the Engineering Training Council Northern Ireland
(ETCNI), developed the SSAs which cover the aerospace, automotive,
electronics manufacture and marine sectors.
Sector Skills Agreements are a new form of demand-driven
contract signed up to by employers and those who plan, fund and
supply education and training. They map out exactly what skills
employers need their workforce to have and how these will be
supplied, enabling government, employers, employee representatives,
funding bodies and supplyside organisations to work to a common set
of objectives. SSAs are designed to shape the supply of education
and training at all levels to close skills gaps and reduce skills
shortages. They will ensure the UK has the skilled workforce it
needs to increase productivity and compete globally – now and in
the future.
Semta’s SSAs are the culmination of in-depth analyses of the
relevant sectors and detailed consultation with a broad range of
employers over the last three years. The agreements have the
backing of Sector Strategy Groups whose membership of employers,
professional and trade associations and trade unions led their
development.
Dr Mark Sweeney, Managing Director of Larne-based FG Wilson
(Engineering) Ltd, a world leader in the manufacture of quality
generator sets, commented: “Education and skills needs of employers
are at the heart of the Semta/ETCNI Sector Skills Agreements. These
agreements will provide the platform to deliver enhanced benefits
in terms of quality, productivity and competitiveness for our
company and for the wider engineering manufacturing sector across
the whole of Northern Ireland".
Ends
Media contact: Elaine Essery, tel: 01229 716129
email: Elaine Essery
Notes to editors:
1. As a Sector Skills Council licensed by government, Semta is
the employer-led organisation at the heart of the skills agenda for
Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies in the UK. The
sectors we represent are: Aerospace, Automotive, Bioscience,
Electrical, Electronics, Engineered Metal Products, Maintenance,
Marine, Mathematics, Mechanical and Metals. Our role is to raise
skills levels and competitiveness in the 75,000 businesses and
2million-strong workforce that make up these sectors.
2. Two Sector Skills Agreements are being launched this
afternoon: one for the aerospace, automotive and electronics
manufacture sectors and one for the marine sector.