What progress has been made, if any, since the Employment Action Plan was published in August 2024 on the Plan's action 4 to develop tools to support the provision of in-work-training, and improve investment in training-related active labour market programmes?

Answer

Following the publication of this Government’s Going for Growth strategy (GFG) in February 2025, priorities from the previous Employment Action Plan were included into the Developing Talent pillar of GFG. This involved carrying over work on: • Developing tools to support the provision of in-work-training. This assessed challenges employers faced when considering investment in in-work training and assessed a range of market-based instruments that could address such challenges. In September 2025 I agreed that further work on in-work training be paused in order to focus on the GFG priorities of creating jobs and supporting more people into employment. • Improving the targeting and effectiveness of Active Labour Market Programmes, which is being delivered through: o Implementation of the Employment Investment Strategy 2025 - 2028, which guides decisions on who to allocate to employment supports to improve their effectiveness for people. o Ongoing work to further capitalise on training and employment opportunities for Jobseekers created by significant infrastructure projects.