About EGFSN

History

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) was established in 1997. The current members were appointed in May 2007. The current mandate (3 pages, PDF, 28KB) was agreed by the two Ministers in May 2007.

Composition

The Group is composed of representatives of business, employees, education, Government departments and State agencies;

The Chairperson of the Group is Ms. Anne Heraty who was re-appointed in May 2007, for a 3 year term - see press release;

The Head of Secretariat is responsible for the overall management of the work of the Group.

Mandate

The Group’s mandate provides that it will act as the central national resource on skills and labour supply for the enterprise sector and an overall strategy for enterprise training in Ireland. All Government requests for specific analysis, sectoral or horizontal, will fall to the Group. Specifically, the Group will carry out systematic and detailed analyses in order to:

Advise Government on projected skills requirements at national and sectoral levels and make recommendations on how best to address identified needs
Advise Government on associated priority training requirements and the most cost effective ways of responding to them
Advise on any skills requirements that cannot be met internally at a given time and so must be met through inward migration
Advise on developments in content and delivery systems that support excellence in training quality elsewhere and on adaptations necessary to incorporate such developments into training provision here
Respond to any request for advice from the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on training programmes that are supported through the National Training Fund
Ensure that recommendations made are adequately assessed by the relevant and responsible authorities and periodically inform members of the EGFSN of progress made in the implementation of such recommendations

The National Training Advisory Committee was merged with the Expert Group in Jan. 2004 and the Group’s mandate was expanded to incorporate the responsibilities formerly held by the NTAC.

Priorities

Within this overall brief, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has identified the following priority areas for the work of the EGFSN:

Identifying emerging need for policy or structural changes
Reviewing the effectiveness and value of operational programmes and delivery systems in place to meet national skills needs
Being committed to progressively promote lifelong learning and
Capitalising on instructive developments internationally.

Skills and Labour Market Research Unit

A Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU) was established in 2001 to act as a central data gathering, analytical and research resource for the Group. It is located in FÁS, the national training and employment authority, and reports to the EGFSN. The unit maintains a comprehensive database containing all available statistics relating to skills and the labour market in Ireland.