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04/11/2005
Jobskills programme savaged in watchdog report
The Northern Ireland Jobskills programme has been savaged in a report produced by Parliamentary watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The Jobskills programme launched in 1995 has cost £485 million, but was roundly criticised for a catalogue of failures and weaknesses, by PAC Chairman Edward Leigh.
The report noted that the dropout rate of candidates on the programme was nearly 50%, that many trainees on the programme were not being trained in skill needed by employers, and that some employers were utilising the individuals on the scheme as a pool of low-rent labour.
The programme was intended to benefit people experiencing difficulties in academic studies, instead using National Vocational Qualifications to provide a means to attain a record of success.
In all over the ten-year programme around 92,000 people have been involved in the programme conducted by over 100 training organisations and overseen by the Department of Employment and Learning.
The report was highly critical of the supervision and control measures that were in place in the Jobskills programme.
The Committee also criticised the responses received from the Department which in some cases "sought to defend what was clearly indefensible."
Commenting on the Committee's report on the NI Jobskills programme, Conservative Shadow Secretary for NI, David Lidington, said: "This is a shocking report. It contains the most savage and devastating criticism of Government incompetence that I have ever seen from the PAC.
"The DEL has betrayed the hopes of thousands of young people and wasted nearly £500 million of our taxes.
"The PAC accuses the Government of complacency, incompetence and indifference."
Questioning whether Ministers were "asleep on their watch while this scandal was developing," Mr Lidington added: "We can have no confidence in Peter Hain's promises to improve public services when Labour Ministers tolerate such disgraceful misgovernment."
(SP/MB)
The Jobskills programme launched in 1995 has cost £485 million, but was roundly criticised for a catalogue of failures and weaknesses, by PAC Chairman Edward Leigh.
The report noted that the dropout rate of candidates on the programme was nearly 50%, that many trainees on the programme were not being trained in skill needed by employers, and that some employers were utilising the individuals on the scheme as a pool of low-rent labour.
The programme was intended to benefit people experiencing difficulties in academic studies, instead using National Vocational Qualifications to provide a means to attain a record of success.
In all over the ten-year programme around 92,000 people have been involved in the programme conducted by over 100 training organisations and overseen by the Department of Employment and Learning.
The report was highly critical of the supervision and control measures that were in place in the Jobskills programme.
The Committee also criticised the responses received from the Department which in some cases "sought to defend what was clearly indefensible."
Commenting on the Committee's report on the NI Jobskills programme, Conservative Shadow Secretary for NI, David Lidington, said: "This is a shocking report. It contains the most savage and devastating criticism of Government incompetence that I have ever seen from the PAC.
"The DEL has betrayed the hopes of thousands of young people and wasted nearly £500 million of our taxes.
"The PAC accuses the Government of complacency, incompetence and indifference."
Questioning whether Ministers were "asleep on their watch while this scandal was developing," Mr Lidington added: "We can have no confidence in Peter Hain's promises to improve public services when Labour Ministers tolerate such disgraceful misgovernment."
(SP/MB)
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