1. The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Scheme – Structure – Results CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece

2. Folie 2G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Claudia Thierfelder Consultant Department „Employability - Vocational Training“, G.I.B. mbH G.I.B. (Organisation for Innovative Employment Promotion) G.I.B. is a Federal state counselling organisation (100% doughter of the Federal State of NRW) 60 experts work on the conceptional development, counselling, implementation and controlling of labour policy programms and projects G.I.B. takes the part of an interface between the federal state and the regions (16 regions in NRW), between programme providers and project implementers, between the state and the different actors working in the municipalities, providing organisations, companies and private labour market service providers G.I.B.´s key objective is the promotion of emloyment in North-Rhine Westphalia

3. Folie 3G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia Some facts: 18 Milllion inhabitants ( highest population density in Germany) 8,6 Million employees (labour force) 723.000 SMEs (enterprises with a maximun of 250 employees) 70% of employees work in SMEs 776.030 unemployed person (unemployment rate of 8,6%, December 2007)

4. Folie 4G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Scheme Reasons for the motivation for the „Training Cheque Programme“ 1.Changed framework conditions in the economy and on the labour market The globalisation of the economy (enterprises have problems to preserve their competitiveness) The demographic development in Germany The low birth rates in Germany (enterprises have problems finding young employees) The decrease of the participation of employed people for vocational training (from 42% in 1997 to 34% in 2003) The low participation of people with migration background in courses for continuing vocational training The low investments from SMEs in vocational training for their employees (SMEs invest much less in continuing vocational training than the larger enterprises)

5. Folie 5G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Scheme 2.Political context The European Council in Lisbon phrased the strategic objective to make the European Union a competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic environment in the world (March 2000) „Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality“, this concept has represented the central theme for the development of education and training policy in the member states of the European Union since 2001 The key-area „Support of the Adaptability of Enterprises and Employees and Promotion of Lifelong Learning“ was created in the framework of the EU-Objective 2 of the promotion period 2007-2013 One promotion instrument within this key area is the „Training Cheque“ which was already implemented at the beginning of 2006 in North Rhine-Westphalia by the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of the federal state of NRW

6. Folie 6G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure Structure of the „Training Cheque Programme“ 1.Main Objectives Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs Improving the employability of employees not used to continuing vocational training Promotion of lifelong learning Reducing continuing training disparities Stimulation on in-company and private training investments Development of an unbureaucratical Instrument to stimulate companies and employees 2.Method Offer enterprises and employees counselling and unbureaucratical financial support

7. Folie 7G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 3.Target groups Two target groups that can receive training cheques: SMEs With a maximum of 250 employess 20 training cheques/year for the employees and Individual employees Working in an enterprise with a maximum of 250 employees 2 training cheques/year

8. Folie 8G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 3.a Definition of the target groups SMEs Enterprises situated in NRW can use training cheques The public service (federal institutions, federal state institutions and other public service organisations) cannot use training cheques Individual employees Wage earners, persons with short –time working contracts, unpaid family workers, workers with maternity leave, founder of a new business during the first five years can use the training cheque Unemployed people, apprentices, students, employed people working in public service organisations cannot use the training cheque

9. Folie 9G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 4.Funding 50 percent of the continuing vocational training fees, at a maximum of 500 Euros 5.Who can receive training cheques? All persons of the two target groups who did not participate in the previous year to continuing vocational training initiated by the enterprise

10. Folie 10G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 6.Training programms which are not eligible Driving licenses Workplace related adaptive qualifying measures which are not usable on the external labour market Training programms, which serve the recreation, entertainment, private housekeeping, sports or arts Training programms, which are generelly promoted by the state Studies to receive a highschool graduation

11. Folie 11G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 7.Organisational structure 220 consultation centres in NRW 430 consultants in NRW 7.aConsultation centres Consultation centres were selected in the framework of the regionalised labour market policy in NRW (16 sub-regional labour market policy agencies in NRW) Consultation centres associated to various institutions: Volkshochschulen (adult education centre), regional agencies, chambers of industry and commerce, technology centres, church organisations, networks…

12. Folie 12G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 7.bMain activities of the consultation centres Clarify the training needs of SMEs and their employees (contact with the entrepreneur) Clarify the training needs of employees (contact with one employee) Clarify the conditions for the financial support Help with the selection of adaquate continuing vocational training offers and training providers Fill out the training cheques and the standardised questionnaires The consultation centres receive money 40 Euros per consultation of an enterprise 20 Euros per consultation of an individual employee (The average duration of a company consultation or an individual consultation is about half an hour)

13. Folie 13G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 7.cQuality of the consultation centres The G.I.B. developed an operational guideline, which will be regularly updated Regular information and training meetings are held for the consultants (G.I.B.) Regular information about news with E-Mail (The Training Cheque Info) (G.I.B.) Internet-Platform, FAQ-lists, FAQ-databases, Flyer in several languages like Turkish or Russion Regular update of the actual database for each consultation centre, monthly (Controlling G.I.B.) Controlling via databases (to prevent malpractice) (G.I.B.)

14. Folie 14G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 8.Reimbursement (approval procedure) 1st step, consultation centre: Transfer of the filled in questionnaire and training cheque with all datas like name, date of birth, address, target of vocational training and so on, via internet to the public reimbursement agencies (Bezirksregierung/Bewilligungsbehörde) during the consultation, online-procedure www.esf.nrw.de Printing the training cheques during the consultation 2nd step, enterprise or employee: Submitting the training cheque and additional documents like the short guideline for training providers (2 pages) to the training provider, Pay the training fees minus the amount claimt (50% of training fees to a maximum of 500 Euros)

15. Folie 15G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Structure 8.Reimbursement (approval procedure) 3rd step, training provider: Checking the training cheques whether the person who submits the cheque is identical with the person entered on the training cheque Submitting the training cheque to the reimbursement agency (Bewilligungsbehörde) receiving the 50% of training fees from the reimbursement agency

16. Folie 16G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results Number of consultations accumulated Number of consultations/month

17. Folie 17G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results

18. Folie 18G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results

19. Folie 19G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results SMEs 1-9 employees 10-49 employees 50-99 employees 100-250 employees

20. Folie 20G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results Gender, men and women

21. Folie 21G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results Age groups, 25 years, 25-50 y., 50 y. and older/ migration background (not German)

22. Folie 22G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Results Average financial support with the training cheque = 330 Euros Cashed-in cheques achieve a value of up to 70% 60,7% women who take part of the training cheque programme 4% people with migration background take part of the training cheque programme 81,7% of the people who take part of the programme are 25 until 50 years old 11,7% of the people are older than 50 years 37,7% of SMEs which take part of the programme have 10-49 employees 28,8% of SMEs which take part of the programme have 1-9 employees

23. Folie 23G.I.B. Gesellschaft für innovative Beschäftigungsförderung mbH The Training Cheque – a new Instrument for the Promotion of the Continuing Vocational Training in SMEs in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). CEDEFOP, 31 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece Results Thank you for your attention. More information you can get from: www.gib.nrw.de www.bildungsscheck.nrw.de www.mags.nrw.de www.esf.nrw.de Or from me c.thierfelder@gib.nrw.de