Question NW2953 to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation

Reply:

a) The core responsibility of a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) is to develop a Sector Skills Plan (SSP) as mandated by the Skills Development Act (Act No. 97 of 1998). SETAs facilitate the delivery of sector-specific skills interventions that enable the achievement of the outcomes of the National Skills Development Plan (NSDP) and other applicable policy instruments. Research is critical in this regard, as SETAs are required to conduct research to identify occupations/skills in demand in their respective sectors.

The Department develops (and annually updates) the Sector Skills Plan Framework, guiding the SETAs, which takes into account amongst others, change drivers such as : regulatory and policy issues such as government legislation (i.e. White Paper for Post School Education and Training, National Plan for Post School Education and Training, etc); national and provincial plans which drive growth and development; economic growth or decline in a sector; changes to the nature of work such as changes in technology, work organization, production and process innovation; the business environment such as export markets, consumer preferences, and competitiveness in the market, globalization and others; immigration and emigration and social issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, health and safety issues, etc. The SSPs include chapters such as Sector Profile; Key Skills Drivers; Occupational Shortages and Skills Gaps; SETA Partnerships and SETA Monitoring and Evaluation. Other Labour Market Intelligence Instruments such as National List of Occupations in High Demand; Critical Skills List; Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan Skills Strategy guide the implementation of skills development interventions. Subsequently, each SETA develops an Annual Performance Plan and Strategic Plan (as tabled in Parliament) and is monitored through the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation and other parliamentary processes. Annual Reports are compiled and tabled to Parliament, monitoring the performance of the SETAs. Consequently, the Department as directed by the Skills Development Act (Act No.97 of 1998) also enters into Service Level Agreements with the SETAs.

(b)

Year 2020/21: (b) Total number of programs have been implemented in the provinces and beneficiaries trained and completed programs
Province	(aa) Beneficiaries trained	(bb)Beneficiaries completed
Eastern Cape	18 944	12 500
Free State	7 101	5 546
Gauteng	57 167	43 038
KwaZulu Natal	22 243	18 389
Limpopo	20 384	19 805
Mpumalanga	8 862	8 804
North West	7 247	7 192
Northern Cape	4 787	3 835
Western Cape	18453	14 620
Total	165 188	133 729

Year 2021/22: (b) Total number of programs have been implemented in the provinces and beneficiaries trained and completed programs
Province	(aa) Beneficiaries trained	(bb)Beneficiaries completed
Eastern Cape	28 929	13 963
Free State	18 210	28 020
Gauteng	60 591	43 362
KwaZulu Natal	33 069	19 919
Limpopo	20 752	14 580
Mpumalanga	12 291	9 196
North West	11 422	8 649
Northern Cape	5 890	4 804
Western Cape	23377	15 250
Total	214 531	157 743

Year 2022/23: (b) Total number of programs have been implemented in the provinces and beneficiaries trained and completed programs
Province	(aa) Beneficiaries trained	(bb)Beneficiaries completed
Eastern Cape	23159	13115
Free State	11630	5581
Gauteng	79105	46643
KwaZulu Natal	41827	21865
Limpopo	27749	19929
Mpumalanga	17731	10585
North West	9957	6951
Northern Cape	8450	4061
Western Cape	30531	14748
Total	250 139	143 478

(c)(i) The SETAs and the Department conduct tracer studies, to track the beneficiaries of the SETA skills development interventions on a regular basis, one of these studies was conducted by Rhodes University, and its outcomes are summarised as follows.

One of the key measures of interest in any tracer study of graduates or completers is the employment rate. If the percentages of completers in Workplace Based Learning Programs (WBL) programs in self-employment and employment are added together, the result is an employment rate of roughly 80% for learnership completers and 60% for those who have recently completed apprenticeships. Therefore, the employment rate among the sample of SETA-funded WBL completers is very high. A key difference between the completers of apprenticeship and learnership programs, however, is that a third of apprentices were not working at the time of the survey compared with about 17% of learnership completers. Based on this alone, one conclusion is that learnership programs appear to be more closely associated with a smooth transition into employment. At the same time, only very small numbers of WBL completers reported studying further after the completion of their training program (6% of apprentices and 3% of learnership completers).

WBL completers who are employed, one of the key findings is that nearly all completers (who were employed at the time of the survey) within each WBL program found employment within six months after the completion of their WBL program. There were only slight differences in the percentage of apprenticeship (89.5%) and learnership (96.3%) completers who found employment within a six-month period. In terms of employment characteristics, the findings suggest that apprenticeship completers were more likely (43.6%) to be employed in a permanent position relative to learnership completers (22.3%). The vast majority (58.4%) of learnership completers were employed in fixed-term positions at the time of the survey. While this would suggest that an apprenticeship is a more direct route to stable employment, about 29.3% of apprenticeship completers were in casual employment (compared with just under a fifth of learnership completers). Therefore, while permanent employment was the modal form of employment for the completers of apprenticeships, a substantial group was also in the most unstable type of employment relationship (casual employment).

(c) (ii) Notably, in the tracer study by Rhodes University, is that the share of WBL completers in self-employment is less than one percent. One of the artisan tracer studies conducted by the Department indicated that 2% (whilst 79% were employed) were self-employed. About 15% of those self-employed individuals indicated that they saw an opportunity for self-employment.

(c) (iii) see as referred above.