Industry trainees to access workplace support
Hon Steven Joyce
Minister for
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
23
June 2016 Media
Statement
Industry trainees to access Workplace Literacy and Numeracy support
Tertiary Education Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today announced that the Workplace Literacy and Numeracy fund will be extended to include industry trainees.
“Literacy and numeracy skills are critical to helping people succeed in the workplace and while they’re training. This change will mean that industry trainees starting out at Levels 1 and 2 on the NZ Qualifications Framework who need to improve their literacy and numeracy skills will be able to get help from specialist providers while they train.”
“The Workplace Literacy and
Numeracy Fund is doing a great job of providing training and
support for businesses and workers who see the need to lift
literacy and numeracy in their workplaces. With this change
and our previous decision to extend the time period
businesses can access the Fund, it is now well placed to
improve the skills of many more people,” Mr Joyce
says.
As part of Budget 2016, the Government boosted the
Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Fund by:
• providing an additional $2 million to support around 600 more places in 2016 and
• providing an additional $3 million for
Workplace Literacy and Numeracy from 2017, enough for
approximately 900 places.
This money comes from a
combination of new money and by reducing the funding rates
in the tertiary education organisation-led strand of the
Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Fund.
The Government is also increasing the amount of training available to each worker through both the Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Fund and the Intensive Literacy and Numeracy Fund. Industry trainees can already access the Intensive Literacy and Numeracy fund.
“Both employers and trainees will benefit from this increased flexibility so they can further lift individuals’ skill levels in the workplace. It demonstrates our commitment to improving workplace productivity and supporting personal success.”
ENDS