Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2018
141. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons enrolled in apprenticeships in his Department and State agencies under his remit by gender in tabular form; and the detail of each such apprenticeship. [5255/18]
View answerCivil Servants are appointed to my Department following competitions conducted by the Public Appointments Service (PAS). Candidates are required to display that they hold certain skill sets that will enable them to carry out the duties associated with the Civil Service grade structures.
There are no positions at my Department that would fall into the category of an apprentice and as such no persons are enrolled. In relation to agencies under the remit of my Department this information in not recorded centrally. Therefore, I have requested officials at my Department to collate the information and it will be forward to the Deputy in due course.
The Deputy will be interested to note that the Government will be working to expand public sector engagement with apprenticeships. This will begin with taking on apprentices in the ICT area, following the validation of two ICT apprenticeships led by the ICT industry body, Fasttrack to Information Technology (FIT) in 2017. The programmes, which will involve recruitment by both private sector and public sector bodies, are expected to commence in the first half of 2018.
