SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin
It follows the release of census figures showing Derry City and Strabane has the highest percentage of people with no qualifications across any local government district.
The figures released on Tuesday show that 28.3% of people in Derry City and Strabane have no qualifications, compared to 17.8% in Lisburn and Castlereagh and 19.1% in Ards and North Down.
Said the Foyle MLA: “The figures released today as part of the census once again confirm the high proportion of people in our city with no qualifications, adding yet more evidence to the case for skills investment in Derry.
“Time and again, I have called out the lack of investment in skills by the Department in our city, yet those calls have fallen on deaf ears.
“We need to properly fund a Skills Strategy to equip people who have low or no qualifications with the skills that the economy and society needs.
“As part of that work, our first priority must be to rebalance investment in skills across the North.
“It cannot be right that Derry is perpetually left at the bottom of these tables with no action taken to direct the investment needed or put in place a strategy to reverse the chronic neglect that our city suffers.
“If this picture is ever going to improve, it will require intentional policies to invest in higher and further education by boosting vocational places and expanding our university.
“In a new Executive, we cannot accept this steady stream of figures that show Derry being left behind. It is within our gift to do better and the people of Derry deserve better.”
