To ask the Minister for the Economy to outline what progress has been made on the development of a new Nursing Higher Level Apprenticeship Framework.

Mr C Murphy

A level 6 higher-level apprenticeship in adult nursing is currently approved for delivery by the Open University. Joint funding for a single cohort of nine apprentices was provided by my Department and the Department of Health. That cohort was recruited into the programme in 2020 and completed their apprenticeships in 2023. All nursing apprentices on the programme were employed in the private sector, mainly in private care homes.

Mr C Murphy

Primary responsibility for that will be with the Health Department. My Department has a general responsibility for skills, education and training, particularly in relation to apprenticeships. That scheme shows that, where there is collaboration between Departments, it can have a positive outcome. Albeit that is small numbers, it is still a positive outcome. As I said in response to a previous question, the best outcome that we can get from an Executive with limited resources is collaboration across Departments to ensure that we are not duplicating or cutting across one another. I am happy to work with the Health Department to ensure that we work together, where we can, to provide support for people to improve their skills and qualifications and the productivity that they bring to the workforce.

Mr Middleton

Does the Minister agree that we need to improve career guidance and entry rates across the board, not only into the health service but across the public sector, and that any development of such a programme needs to be reflected in the ethos in our schools and in careers advice?

Mr C Murphy

Yes, I do. I have had that conversation briefly with the Minister of Education. The traditional pathways, basically through schools, were either into vocational work or universities. They are much broader and more varied now, and there is much more opportunity for people to follow high-level apprenticeships. We need to ensure that, when kids are 13 or 14 years old, they get all those options laid out for them and their parents, so that they can pursue whatever option, they think, is best for them, and that they continue to receive advice as they progress through school. Again, it is a bit like my response to the previous question: the more cohesion we have between Departments working together, the better the outcomes we will get, particularly for young people.

Mr Delargy

I thank the Minister for his answers so far. Does he recognise the opportunities that public-sector apprenticeships present?

Mr C Murphy

Yes, I do, increasingly. In my previous role in the Department of Finance, we had responsibility for civil servants. There were efforts there to ensure that we gave opportunities for people to come forward, particularly people who, perhaps, would not ordinarily have ended up working in some parts of the public service. It is to the good of the public service generally that we have more diversity and ranges of experience in it. It leads to better outcomes in the decisions that it has to take and the ideas that it generates. It is of enormous value. We have recognised that we have a stubbornly low level of productivity. We are the worst-performing region on these islands. It is through assistance, career progression, studying and apprenticeships that we will bring individuals up in terms of their approach to it, and that, in turn, will bring up overall productivity levels.