AQW 53724/11-16
Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry
Tabled Date: 02/02/2016
Answered On Date: 11/02/2016
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning for his assessment of the skills shortage locally, including within (i) construction; (ii) science, technology and engineering; and (iii) information and computer technology.
Answer:
In terms of skills gaps within the existing workforce, the 2015 Employer Skills Survey (ESS) shows that 91% of establishments in Northern Ireland felt that all of their staff were fully proficient at their job at the time of the fieldwork. This is higher than the 2015 UK average of 86% and an improvement on the level of 86% for Northern Ireland in 2013. In other words, only 9% of establishments in Northern Ireland experienced skills gaps. These establishments reported ‘ability to manage own time and prioritise tasks’, ‘team working’ and ‘specialist skills or knowledge’ to be the most commonly found skills to be lacking among existing staff in Northern Ireland. Eighteen percent of these reported this having a major impact on their organisation’s performance and most significantly in terms of increasing workload for other staff. The survey also showed that three per cent of establishments in Northern Ireland had at least one skill shortage vacancy, the same level as in 2013, but significantly below the 2015 UK proportion of 6%. Of these, establishments’ ‘ability to manage own time and prioritise tasks’, ‘customer handling skills’ and ‘specialist skills or knowledge’ were also the most commonly found skills to be lacking for skill shortage vacancies. The 2015 UK ESS report published on 28th January 2016 presented results by sector and occupation at the overall UK level and can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukces-employer-skills-survey-2015-uk-report Information from the 2015 survey for Northern Ireland will be published on 10th March 2016 which will include data on sector and occupation. However these will not directly map to the areas specifically requested, with the exception of construction. A copy of the NI toolkit will be forwarded to you once available on that date. The ESS is managed by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the 2015 survey included 4,019 completed interviews with NI establishments.
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