Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 June 2021
321. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the status of the roll-out of the Action Plan for Apprenticeships 2021-2025 which is a specific focus on apprenticeships that would help address skill shortages in the housing sector. [29525/21]
View answerThe Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 was launched on 19th April and sets out a five year plan which sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship accessible to employers and learners. The actions set out in the plan seek to deliver on a target of 10,000 apprenticeship registrations per annum by 2025 across all sectors of the economy including construction. Measures to support employer engagement in apprenticeship, particularly within the SME sector, will be integral to the delivery of that target.
As a demand driven programme, the number of apprentice placements is determined by employers within the construction sector. In recent years, annual intake in construction related apprenticeships has steadily been increasing, from a low of 650 in 2010 to 3,499 in 2019. The impact of Covid-19 and the closure of the construction sector in March 2020 impacted heavily on apprentice registrations in the first half of 2020. Registrations recovered in the second half of the year with the support of the Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme, which provides an employer grant of €3,000 payable over two years to support employers who take on and retain apprentices, reaching a total of 3,104 registrations on construction related apprenticeships by year end.
Work has begun on the implementation of the Action Plan. Proposed amendments to the Industrial Training Act, 1967 seek to expand the definition of an "activity of industry" to widen the potential scope of new apprenticeship programmes (Action 5.2) has been included under the General Scheme of Higher Education Authority Bill which was published on the 6th May 2021. The Bill also provides for the recognition of a shared office between SOLAS and HEA to facilitate collaboration on the national-level development, monitoring, review and management of the apprenticeship system (Action 12.6)
Progress towards baseline actions will be reviewed on an annual basis and a report delivered to Government, outlining progress and learnings and setting out detailed areas for action in the next phase of delivery.
Education and training relevant to skills needs in the construction sector is delivered through ongoing apprenticeship and non-apprenticeship further and higher education and training as well as through specific activation programmes such as Springboard, the Human Capital Initiative and Skillnet Ireland.
Among the 60 apprenticeships currently available at levels 5-10 on the National Framework of qualifications, the 25 traditional craft apprenticeships at level 6 of the National Framework of Qualifications have been supplemented by new apprenticeships in geo-drilling (Level 6), with programmes in scaffolding (level 5), roofing and cladding (level 5) and advanced quantity surveying (Level 9) due to launch in 2021.
