6. Question No. 6—EducationJO LUXTON (Labour) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 6—Education6. JO LUXTON (Labour) to the Minister of Education: What are the next steps in the Government's plan to fix the trades skills gap?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): This morning I announced our next set of actions to increase the number of young people going into trades training and to tackle the long-term challenge of skills shortages particularly in areas like construction and agriculture. These include a new education-to-employment brokerage service events to support the trades and a promotional campaign. This is another part of the Government's comprehensive plan to boost trades training and to tackle skill shortages and it sits alongside the Prime Minister's Vocational Excellence Awards the introduction of micro-credentials the expansion of Gateway and trades academies and the Government's wider work to reform vocational education and training.Jo Luxton: What is the education-to-employment brokerage service and how will it attract young people into the trades?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The new education-to-employment brokerage service will be led by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). It involves brokers who will build strong relationships with local businesses and schools and act as a liaison between the schools and the employers in their region to highlight local trades and vocational opportunities for students. This is something that employers have been asking for for some time. In developing the new service MSD will be able to draw on the learnings of a very successful brokerage service that's being run by Aoraki Development the economic development agency for South Canterbury. Their programme helps to connect young people with relevant opportunities in the local primary sector food manufacturing transport and logistics and the construction sector. We know there's a model that works and we want to have more schools and communities having access to it.Jo Luxton: What sort of trades-related events will the Government be investing in and why? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We'll be supporting up to a further 140 events over the next couple of years along the lines of the Got a Trade? Got it Made! speed meets initiative otherwise referred to as speed dating for prospective apprentices and employers. This approach has proven very popular giving students an opportunity to meet directly with employers who have got current job vacancies and apprenticeships. We're also going to be supporting secondary schools to run their own trades-related events including things like careers expos. That's part of the plan to shift the perception of vocational education and training as a positive and attractive career path looking at a range of options other than just university.Jo Luxton: What does the Government hope to achieve through the promotional campaign he has mentioned? Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Research has indicated that parents often have a more negative view of vocational education and training and the trades than their kids do and yet parents have a significant influence on the types of careers their kids choose to progress. There have been some successful campaigns already including the BCITO campaign for example that was focused around shifting parents' perceptions that often discourage young people from going into careers in the trades. We're aiming to build on successful campaigns like that to continue to shift public attitudes so that people accept that trades are a very very valuable career option and we need more young people to be taking them up.