Apprenticeships: High-tech Industries

Part of the debate – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 3:15 pm on 23 April 2012.

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Photo of Stephen Farry Stephen Farry Alliance 3:15, 23 April 2012

: I thank the Member for his question and understand the sentiments behind it. In Northern Ireland, there is, on the one hand, a desire to be very radical and innovative within public policy but equally there is a very strong accountability culture and a desire to see things properly rolled out and assessed before even greater amounts of money are invested. I am not sure that this is something that affects my Department any more than others. The House has to grapple with the wider culture in public policy in Northern Ireland. I will, however, give the assurance that I will move aggressively to follow up on the results of any pilot. Those results will also be reinforced by work that I am doing with an ICT working group involving business leaders, the colleges and universities and other Departments to see how we can better cater for the ICT sector. My skills adviser, Bill McGinnis, is conducting a scoping exercise with engineering companies on their particular skills needs to see what actions we need to take. Apprenticeships are only one part of a much wider engagement in support of those sectors.