Tánaiste welcomes passing of National Training Fund Bill, 2000

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Harney, T.D., today (Friday 15th. December 2000) welcomed the passing of the National Training Fund Bill, 2000, by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The National Training Fund is being established to raise the skills of those in employment and to provide training to those who wish to take up employment.

Commenting on the Bill, the Tánaiste said, "Ireland’s recent economic success has been underpinned by the availability of a well educated and highly skilled labour force. However, in order to sustain our economic success, we must ensure that the skills of those in the labour force are continuously up-graded. Training and learning is a means of securing the future employability of workers in an ever-changing modern workplace, while at the same time creating competitive advantage for companies through increasing the skills-base of firms.

"The National Training Fund will place a new emphasis on up-skilling people in employment and for employment, and will raise awareness of the value of investing in people."

The National Training Fund will represent a significant reform in the way training of people in, and for, employment is funded. The Fund will be resourced through a levy on employers equivalent to 0.7% of PRSI contributions in respect of Class A and H employments. There will be no additional financial imposition on employers, as the cost of the levy will be offset by a comparable cut in employers’ PRSI. The levy will yield over £120 million on a full-year basis.

The Fund will support a range of employment training initiatives including Apprenticeship, Traineeship, company-specific training programmes, sectoral training programmes and employment-related training courses for the unemployed.

The National Training Fund Bill will also repeal sectorally-based levies which, up to this year, were administered by FAS. In anticipation of the introduction of the Fund, the former Apprenticeship Levy and Levy Grant Schemes operated by FAS were suspended this year. Their repeal will result in financial savings for the many employers who paid those levies.

"Our existing statutory framework for training, as embodied in the 1967 Industrial Training Act is outmoded", said the Tánaiste. "The National Training Fund will provide more flexible, responsive and dynamic structures for the training needs of our economy today. I will be establishing a new National Training Advisory Committee in the New Year which will be representative of key stakeholders in the are of enterprise training. This Committee will advise me of emerging trends and needs in relation to training for those in employment and those seeking employment, and will help to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of enterprise training across a broad range of publicly-funded bodies."

The Bill will now be referred to the President for signature.