3. Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does he stand by his statement that “New Zealand simply can’t afford a future where 20 percent of our workforce does not have the skills necessary for modern jobs”?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Transport) Link to this
Is it not actually true that the number of people in industry-based skills training has dropped by 31,000 under this Government’s watch and that the number of apprenticeships has declined, particularly in the area of building and construction, where those skills are desperately needed to rebuild Christchurch?
What has actually happened is that the Government is no longer funding imaginary trainees like the previous Government did. In 2008 more than 96,000 people—in fact, 96,831 people—were listed and were funded by the previous Government as being in industry training, where they did not achieve a single credit. In 2009, which was the last year before we changed the rules, more than 100,000 people were funded to do industry training and did not achieve a single credit. In fact, across those 2 years there were 44,000 people who were tax-payer funded in the settings made by Labour who were there for 2 years and did not achieve a single credit. That is not industry training. That is imaginary training.
Why has he not acted on the advice given to him by the Tertiary Education Commission in March of this year to double the amount of funding going into training building and construction workers, to overcome a massive skills shortage, perhaps using some of the money—the $145 million—that he cut out of industry training in the Budget this year?
I point out to the member that in Budget 2011 we made available $48 million more for industry training and for trades-related training in polytechnics. Those numbers are growing and considerable places are still available. On top of that, we announced $55 million for job opportunities placements with the Ministry of Social Development and employers to subsidise people into industry training for trades-related training. They are all available now. If there is anybody interested in taking up trades training opportunities, there are hundreds and thousands of those available right now for trades training in Christchurch.
In view of the fact that we have a very high rate of young people unemployed in New Zealand, alongside a skills shortage, why does he not pay an incentive that would go to the employer, such as the unemployment benefit, for young people who are currently unemployed on the basis that it makes a hell of a lot more sense to pay the employer to train a young person in lifelong skills than to have that person rot on the dole?
Well, in fact we do exactly that with the Skills for Growth programme, and the Job Ops with Training programme makes subsidies of $5,000 available for employers for exactly that thing. I have seen other suggestions from other parties about how we could improve industry training. I can tell the member opposite that we are already doing pretty much all of them.
Does he agree with the Canterbury Employment and Skills Board chairman, Carl Davidson, that rebuilding Christchurch would take as long as 15 years because of the shortage of skilled labour in that city?
I can tell the member that the Minister for Tertiary Education was meeting trades trainers in Christchurch yesterday, and he spoke with a number of them on the training that is going on at the moment. I can tell the member that trades-related training for institutes of technology and polytechnics is up 2½ thousand since 20 April this year; that the numbers in industry training are increasing steadily, as well; and that as businesses get more confidence in terms of the construction work coming through, I am reliably informed that they will take up trainees at an increasing rate.
When he launched the Kia Ora Mai training programme 2 years ago and said that that would raise the skills of 10,000 service industry workers in time for the Rugby World Cup, why, 3 days out from the Rugby World Cup, has he achieved only 10 percent of that number?
I think it is important to say that these are demand-based programmes making the places available. It is important that the demand has the opportunity to be met. But the point is that this Government has made thousands more places available in tertiary training and there is no shortage of places available right now.