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WQ.123/2023
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND EDUCATION BY DEPUTY M.B. ANDREWS OF ST. HELIER NORTH
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 27th MARCH 2023
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 3rd APRIL 2023
Question
Will the Minister advise whether she is considering the creation of a taskforce to investigate workforce capacity for preschool needs; and, if not, why not?
Answer
Under the auspices of the Best Start Partnership a group focussing on workforce capacity was established in Q1 2022. This group includes representation from Government, charity and private sector nursery providers.
The group was originally constituted to focus on implementing the recommendation from the Early Years Policy Development Board - to establish a graduate led workforce. Following feedback from the sector this priority was deferred to enable a greater focus on increasing the capacity of Level 3 staff within the workforce.
This has led to a number of initiatives including:
• increased funding for training
• increased training capacity
• marketing of career opportunities
• development of trainee positions.
Work is joined up across Government with positive engagement from Highlands, Skills Jersey and the Back to Work team at Customer and Local Services amongst others.
The sector is also driving several initiatives directly including proposals to immigration and population and developments to flexible working, compensation structure and other attraction/retention activities.
As such, there is strong collaborative working across the wider sector.
Further work is planned on workforce development, and this will be shared as it develops.