[F3(1)The [F4Department] shall make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for the purpose of assisting persons to select, train for, obtain and retain employment suitable for their ages and capacities or of assisting persons to obtain suitable employees (including partners and other business associates).
(1A)Arrangements under this section may—
(a)include arrangements for providing temporary employment for persons in Northern Ireland who are without employment;
(b)include arrangements for encouraging increases in the opportunities for employment and training that are available to women and girls or to disabled persons;
(c)subject to the restriction of paragraph (a) to persons in Northern Ireland, be made in respect of employment and training anywhere in the United Kingdom or elsewhere;
(d)include provision for the making of payments by [F5any person], by way of grant or loan or otherwise, to persons who provide facilities in pursuance of the arrangements, to persons who use those facilities and to other persons specied in or determined under the arrangements;
(e)include provision for the making of payments to the Department by other parties to the arrangements and by persons who use those facilities;
(f)include arrangements for securing that assistance in relation to the matters mentioned in subsection (1) is provided by persons other than the Department.
(1B)The payments for which arrangements under this section may provide—
(a)shall include the payment to a person by the Department of an allowance pending a time when payments will be or may be made to that person in respect of his use of facilities which will be or may be made available to him under any such arrangements;
(b)shall not include the payment of any such allowance to a person—
(i)for any period after that person has attained the age of eighteen years; or
(ii)for any period for which child benefit is payable in respect of that person; and
(c)shall not include any payment by any person to the Department, other than a payment for publications issued in pursuance of the arrangements, in respect of the seeking or obtaining for that person of any employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship.
(1C)No payments shall be made by the Department by virtue of any power conferred by this section unless the Department of Finance and Personnel has approved—
(a)the amounts of the payments or the manner of determining those amounts; and
(b)the terms on which they are made or the manner of determining those terms.]
[F6(2)For the purpose of advising and assisting it in the performance of its functions under this Act, the Department may appoint such advisory bodies as it thinks fit.
(3)The Department may by regulations make provision for—
(a)the constitution and functions of any such advisory body;
(b)the name by which any such advisory body is to be known.]
[F7(4)The Department must make arrangements under this section for providing careers guidance for such persons as the Department considers appropriate.
(5)The guidance must—
(a)be provided in an impartial manner; and
(b)be in the best interests of the person receiving it.
(6)The Department may by regulations make such provision concerning arrangements under subsection (4) as the Department considers appropriate, including provision requiring the guidance to be delivered or otherwise provided by a person who has such qualifications as the Department may determine.
(7)In this section “careers guidance” means guidance on—
(a)what employments are available to and suitable for the persons receiving the guidance; and
(b)what education and training may be available to those persons to prepare them for those employments.]
[F8(8)The Department may by regulations provide that arrangementsmust be made under this section for providing apprenticeships and traineeships for such persons as may be specified in the regulations subject to such conditions as may be so specified.
(9)Regulations under subsection (8) may make provision as to the components of apprenticeships and traineeships.]
F1Word in s. 1 heading substituted (8.5.2016) by The Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/76), art. 1(2), Sch. 6 para. 26(a) (with art. 9(2))
F4Words in s. 1(1) substituted (8.5.2016) by The Departments (Transfer of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016/76), art. 1(2), Sch. 6 para. 26(b) (with art. 9(2))
F5Words in s. 1(1A)(d) substituted (3.8.2010) by Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2010 (c. 12), ss. 7(1), 8(2), Sch. 1 para. 1
F7S. 1(4)-(7) inserted (20.9.2021) by Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c. 15), ss. 20, 29(2); S.R. 2021/253, art. 2(d)
F8S. 1(8)(9) added (20.9.2021) by Employment Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (c. 15), ss. 21, 29(2); S.R. 2021/253, art. 2(e)