T3. Mr Mathison asked the Minister for the Economy to confirm when a careers portal for Northern Ireland will be delivered, given that one has been in the mix for close to a decade. (AQT 623/22-27)

I presume that the Member is referring to the tourism strategy.

A careers portal.

A careers portal.

Sorry, I beg your pardon. I picked you up wrong.

The Minister of Education and I agreed, at the first Executive meeting following the restoration of the Assembly, I think, on the importance of developing consistent careers advice. We have worked together on that, and continue to do so, and are making substantial progress. We want to ensure that careers advice is consistent and delivered uniformly to every child to ensure that every school has access to it. That has not been the case in the past and it is not the case now. We want to make sure that that advice is as up to date as it can be in a very fast-moving technological world. Part of that will be a careers portal that will allow parents to access the same information, rather than having to rely on what is delivered through the schools. We have been working on that diligently, and I hope that we will be able to make some announcements on it in the not-too-distant future.

I thank the Minister for that update and am sorry if my question was not delivered clearly. Will the Minister provide information on what engagement he has had with businesses in Northern Ireland on the development of the careers portal to ensure that it will be fit for purpose?

We have a careers advisory council, so all those matters are interlinked. Business organisations and people with senior business experience are involved in that council. Ongoing contact on careers between ourselves, businesses, trade unions and others is critical, because we have a very fast-moving and growing technological sector.

Our reputation is strongest on skills. When we talk to people internationally about investing here, the number-one factor for them is skills. We need to work collaboratively with businesses, colleges, universities and other training providers to make sure that we are as up to date and flexible as we can be on what particular skills are required at any given time. That is why we continue to operate skills academies and other bespoke skills training support for specific areas of need, such as in manufacturing in Mid Ulster and fintech in areas of Belfast. We continue to work on that. Dialogue with businesses is critical to making sure that we are clear about the kind of careers pipeline that is needed to grow the economy and the businesses that are already well placed to deliver that.