Belgium 
FOREM/CIDOC-VDAB/ICODOC, April 1997
 

Belgium’s confederal structure means that a distinction needs to be drawn between the federal level and the community level (there are three such communities - one German-speaking, one French-speaking and one Dutch-speaking). Federal level Community level German-speaking Community French Community Introduction: Institutional framework Brussels Region (French-speaking part) Walloon Region Flemish Community, including the Dutch-speaking part of the Brussels Region Federal level At this level the Belgian Ministry for Employment and Labour retains responsibility for the following: Vocational integration of young people as regards industrial apprenticeships. The employment-training agreement for young people (Decree No 485). Employment promotion measures. Sectoral collective agreements. Financial incentives to recruit people. The joint apprenticeship committees. Funding the PAC assistance programme for the unemployed, plus the recurrent inter-occupational agreements. Against this backdrop the following developments in 1997 are worthy of mention: The Employment Promotion and Company Competitiveness Safeguards Act. The measures provided for include prolongation of the measures set out in the 1995-1996 inter-occupational agreement, i.e. specific measures to bolster training and integration of young people on the job market with the backing of the regions and communities. Other more recent measures focus more particularly on the occupational transition of groups difficult to place, making use of various recruitment subsidy schemes in the three regions (Brussels, Flemish and Walloon). Furthermore, mentor-based training in Brussels SMEs will be fostered by providing recruitment incentives in the form of subsidies. In addition, the integration companies (social and occupational integration bodies, known as OISPs - Organismes d’Insertion Sociale et Professionnelle) and job-seekers difficult to place in productive activities in the commercial goods and services fields now enjoy substantial exemptions from payment of social security contributions, ranging from 100% to 25 % depending on the employment period. [Back to the top] Community level German-speaking Community Occupational retraining scheme (work-based) for people with disabilities. In accordance with a decree issued by the Government of the German-speaking Community on 28 November 1996 (Belgian Official Gazette [Moniteur belge] of 12/09/1996), such practical retraining places should prepare disabled persons for work under normal working conditions while taking full account of the abilities and interests of those concerned. [Back to the top] French Community Introduction: Institutional framework The current vocational training set-up in French-speaking Belgium has become relatively complicated due to the large number of different - sometimes competing - players or providers, all the more so given that the distinction between initial training and training oriented towards the job market has become increasingly blurred. The major development recently has been devolution of vocational training, with competence in this field being transferred from the French Community to the Walloon Region, which was already responsible for placement of job-seekers and for employment policy. The two major direct consequences of this are (i) that FOREM (the Community and Regional Office for Training and Employment) is no longer responsible for the Brussels Region and now has headquarters in Charleroi, and (ii) that the Brussels Region now has the French-speaking Brussels Institute for Vocational Training (Institut bruxellois francophone de formation professionnelle - IBFFP) created in 1994, but whose specific policy has only recently begun to have an impact. [Back to the top] Brussels Region (French-speaking part) The decree of 4 July 1996 (Moniteur belge) institutes approval procedures for certain social and occupational integration bodies so as to boost the chances of out-of-work job-seekers having jobs found for them by the new Brussels body mentioned above, which plays the part of overall institutional organiser and is responsible for approving subsidies to type A, B and C social and occupational integration bodies (consisting of vocational learning enterprises, local employment units and work-based training shops). Furthermore, the policy of the leading players - i.e. the former centres of FOREM in Brussels, the Institut des Classes Moyennes (literally "Institute of the Middle Classes", which covers commerce, craft trades, smaller industries and services), and (in respect of education) for Social Advancement (second-chance teaching geared to the labour market) - is laid down by the COCOF (Commission of the French Community of Brussels-Capital). [Back to the top] Walloon Region FOREM is becoming the pivotal point for the new integration contract charter involving all training providers in the planning of training measures for the 12 sub-regional employment divisions. From now on it is the job of the Sub-regional Employment and Training Committees (CSEF) to plan such measures by approving and subsidising them in line with clear-cut criteria (including those laid down by the ESF). Under the charter FOREM must set up training "exchanges", i.e. units whose task it is to provide information and guidance to would-be trainees on the basis of a clearly defined individually customised pathway. FOREM is also devising specific vocational training measures, either on its own or in partnership with the various professional federations in sectors such as metalworking, textiles, transport, chemicals, wood, construction, and with other partners from economic and social establishments. As for guidance, training "exchanges", i.e. units interlinking the 12 sub-regional divisions, will soon be set up to deal with individualised routes to integration. The service sector intends to set up and operate - in addition to its usual training activities covering tertiary-sector occupations (secretarial, company management, languages, training courses involving subcontractors (or not) aimed at top target groups in the industrial sales or computer management sector) - call centres and training courses specifically linked to teleworking (home working - "hot desking" and teleworking) and this in connection with several European consortia financed under ADAPT, SOCRATES, LEONARDO and Objectives 1 and 4 of the European Social Fund. The IFPME Institut des Classes Moyennes receives funding from the Walloon Government to finance educational leave for workers in SMEs (such leave to be readjusted for SMEs). In addition, a national bill (draft law) drawn up by the Ministère des Classes Moyennes (literally "Ministry for the Middle Classes, responsible for those in commerce, craft trades, smaller industries and services) will make managerial knowledge compulsory for all 200 commercial and/or craft trade occupations, which means the IFPME will have to assume responsibility at community and regional level for training in order to satisfy this new legal requirement. Furthermore, the Walloon Region is initiating a package of 21 measures to boost employment in the region, under one of which the Minister intends to sell 12 000 training vouchers (each worth BFR 10 000) to SMEs, such vouchers being exchangeable for training furnished by approved providers. He would also like (i) to create a "short" training course teaching people how to start up a business, and (ii) to introduce a "local development agent" at municipal level responsible for detecting new sources of employment. OISP (Organisme d’Insertion Sociale et Professionnelle) Finally, the introduction of updated legislation governing the procedures for approving social and vocational integration bodies is meant to establish a new set of criteria for granting subsidies. Source: FOREM - CIDOC [Back to the top] Flemish Community, including the Dutch-speaking part of the Brussels Region As far as policy-making in the Flemish Community at federal level is concerned, it is clear that the competent authorities have chosen to pursue employment and training measures that have already proven effective (cf. national employment plans for long-term unemployed or for youngsters, sectoral agreements on the financing of training via negotiation between the social partners and the government, etc.). At community level, the same policy applies to matters such as community employment plans, apprenticeship promotion (in the training context of the "classes moyennes"; industrial apprenticeship is a federal matter), teacher training, reorganization of higher education institutes infrastructure and adult education (the latter being the subject of a planned reorganization via a decree). Other actions or developments are more ‘stand-alone’ in their conception. The major points of attention are presented below: With the Flemish Socio-Economic Forum in September 1996, the green light was given for a new action year to benefit semi- and unskilled workers, during which the importance of training to help their integration into the labour market will be emphasized. In the September declaration (1996) of the Flemish government, it was stated that, in addition to the BFR 750 million for retraining, the government will also take concrete measures to match supply and demand within the training sector, at both the community and the sub-regional level. The latest Flemish Employment Agreement stipulates that investment in training for the unemployed in Flanders will be raised to be on a par with international levels. As far as training policy is concerned, the focus will be on the socially disadvantaged unemployed. Training supply for workers will be extended and flexible training programmes will be further elaborated, especially with regard to SMEs. Both for unemployed persons and for workers, the means of vocational training will be implemented in a more demand-oriented way. The Flemish Office for Placement and Vocational Training (VDAB) will remain the central actor on the Flemish labour market. The government and the social partners have concluded an agreement on the objectives of the new Flemish work experience plan. The existing systems will be harmonized into one new system in which the number of jobs will be raised and in which more guidance will be provided. This should also facilitate mobility after the first work experience. The plan is aimed at long-term unemployed, semi- and unskilled workers and persons with a minimum social income. The Prime Minister will submit (spring 1997) to the Flemish Parliament an action plan on employment, which is now being prepared within the Flemish Economic and Social Negotiation Committee (VESOC). Innovation in Flemish enterprises, the impact on qualifications and continuing vocational training for the unemployed and for workers will definitely be on the agenda. In March the Flemish Government made public the policy guidelines for a new vocational training plan, which will be implemented shortly. The Government and the social partners are presently deciding on the budget to be made available for retraining. The focus will be on continuing education and lifelong learning, and the subsequent aim will be harmonization of the training supply between the three major providers (i.e. the Flemish Office for Placement and Vocational Training (VDAB), social advancement education (OSP) and the training institutions for the "classes moyennes", namely VIZO/CMOs - Vlams Institut voor Zelfstandig Ondernemen/Centrum voor Middenstandoopleiding). Concretely, enterprises will be able to submit innovative projects, which can be financed by the Government (with sectoral and European co-financing); VDAB and VIZO will organize implementation of these projects, which will include social profit-related activities. In April, a Regional Vocational Training Service for the Region of Brussels-Capital (RDBB) was finally created (along the lines of earlier decisions going back to 1989 when VDAB and FOREM were created). This Service will organize and develop the vocational training supply (for workers and job-seekers) for the Dutch-speaking people in Brussels; it has its own advisory body, namely the Brussels Dutch-speaking Committee for Employment and Training (BNCTO) (which was created earlier, in 1996). The activities of the ‘integration companies’ mentioned earlier on - which endeavour to integrate the poorly qualified and long-term unemployed into a regular enterprise working situation (since 1994) - have been positively evaluated recently. Some 13 such companies are active (under the guidance of the Flemish Employment Minister) in various sectors such as bakery, construction, professional cleaning, etc. The key approach here is to adapt the organization to the available qualifications of the workers, instead of the other way around. Also, the (federal) Government itself, when launching tenders, is thinking of asking applicant companies to include in their personnel a certain percentage of long-term unemployed or people with low-level qualifications. This so-called ‘social clause’ is not exactly new, but will be revamped within the framework of the fight against poverty (social effects). Source: VDAB/ICODOC [Back to the top]