3. Mr McGlone asked the Minister for the Economy, further to the publication of the ‘Digital Skills Action Plan 2024-2034’, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that people in rural areas have equal opportunities to digital skills education. (AQO 931/22-27)

The 'Digital Skills Action Plan 2024-2034' seeks to develop alternative pathways into the digital sector via upskilling and reskilling. The courses are delivered through the universities and subregional network of colleges with a focus on online provision. Enabling online delivery is particularly beneficial for people in rural areas. Project Stratum is improving broadband services for over 80,000 premises that were previously unable to access services of 30 megabits per second. Some 97% of those premises are in the open countryside or in settlements with populations of fewer than 1,000 people.

Project Gigabit will address premises that are unable to access gigabyte-capable broadband and that are not part of the suppliers' commercial plans.

Minister, as you know, Mid Ulster is a well-established manufacturing hub. It is also particularly vulnerable to automation, so the digital skills are particularly important to develop there. What specific digital skills plans does your Department have for the industry, and, particularly, what plans does your Department have in a wider area to maximise and optimise the best use of AI?

We are engaging with that. Last week, I spoke at a conference on AI to make sure that it is part of our plan. There is a significant debate on the use of AI: some people see it as a threat; other people see it as an advantage. It is an effective tool that can be used in a beneficial way if it is used properly. We do need to engage with that. The purpose of Project Stratum and Project Gigabit was to ensure that people were connected, so that they have the ability to access online services and content, and to ensure that we develop courses and skilling opportunities in such a way that people can access those. There is a spread of courses across our regional network of colleges and delivered online to make sure that those are available to people.

We are increasingly getting into the use of AI and determining how that will be used. In the not-too-distant future, I intend to bring a paper to the Executive to discuss how the Executive, as a whole, engage in the whole area of AI. That is to make sure that we have policy in that regard, a clear understanding of what possible benefits it can bring and what use it can be in our own public-sector services and for the growth of economy.

I am conscious that lifelong learning will be really important in delivering the digital skills pipeline. I am curious as to what plans the Minister has to address the cultural perception that learning stops when you enter the workplace. This will be so important. What plans and programmes does he have to enhance that?

The plan for digital skills focuses on lifelong learning and access to that area, so it is about reskilling and upskilling. In addition, the £12 million that we set aside at the start of the summer for skills is focused on lifelong learning. That will be critical because, to have a fairly high level of employment, in order to try to continue to grow our businesses and our economy, we need to be able to access people who are not currently economically active and upskill people who are already in work and to create courses. That is why a lot of those courses have been created with, in particular, our small and medium-sized economy in mind, because it is difficult to release people from small companies, and to ensure that they are online and accessible, including to women, who may be returning from caring duties. There is as much a focus on reskilling as there is on bringing people into those areas of work at entry level.

Minister, can you detail where exactly the digital skills courses will be rolled out and delivered?

As I said, it will be a mixture of online courses, largely focused through the regional colleges. South West College and all the regional colleges will be engaged in this. We have an excellent network of campuses, right across the North, and that estate has been added to. I had an opportunity to go to Coleraine to the opening of a new campus last week. It is a very effective way of delivering those courses to make sure that they get right into local communities and to make sure that people in rural communities can benefit from them.

I would advise people from the Member's constituency to engage with South West College to ensure that they are aware of what is available. As I say, the intention is to do a lot of this online so that travel, childcare and other issues, which, traditionally, reduce the opportunities for people to engage in learning, will, hopefully, be mitigated.