Upskilling to meet local business needs

PLANS to offer training and education in skills relevant to local business needs are to be put in place by the end of the year.

The initiative by Vocational Education Committees and State training authority FÁS could be crucial in helping to re-skill thousands of workers made redundant in various industry sectors over the past couple of years.

Procedures are being finalised for each city and county VEC to work with local FÁS offices and other training agencies to identify the skills needs in their particular area. The idea is that VEC colleges and FÁS would then organise themselves or other agencies to make courses available for local workers, to meet the needs of local business or industries likely to set up in their region.