Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022
53. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will report on the waiting lists for craft apprenticeships and the progress in decentralising the craft apprenticeship model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12743/22]
View answerWill the Minister provide an update for the waiting list for the craft apprenticeships and the progress in decentralising the craft apprenticeship model? When I raised this with the Minister last month, there had been a 17% increase in the number of apprentices waiting to access off-the-job training over the preceding two months, with figures back up to just under 10,000.
What progress has been made on reducing the backlog? The Minister knows I will ask him this every Question Time.
The Deputy does indeed ask this question and it is an important one. As the Deputy is aware, the backlog in craft apprenticeship training was genuinely a result of the adverse impact of Covid public health restrictions. The Deputy and I agree that the sector has worked very hard to try to alleviate this situation. In responding to these restrictions it has been a priority to seek to facilitate, where possible, access to onsite teaching and learning for essential skills-based activities such as apprenticeships.
A detailed and comprehensive emergency plan to tackle the apprentice waiting lists has been under way throughout further and higher education since August 2021 when some training facilities started to reopen. At that point 11,859 apprentices were delayed in their training. The Deputy knows that we allocated €20 million in additional capital investment. This provided a very large increase in workshops and equipment in every training location in the country. On top of this we provided an additional €17 million in budget 2022 to facilitate further the response of SOLAS and the HEA, including a significant recruitment campaign to increase the number of trainers.
I am pleased to say that of the 11,859 apprentices who were delayed in their training by Covid-19, 7,500 have now progressed in their off-the-job training. This includes more than 600 final year apprentices who have been fast-tracked to complete their qualification. The number waiting at the end of February 2022 was 7,796, which is a significant decrease on January's figure of 9,570.
The Department, SOLAS and other apprenticeship partners continue to work actively on further measures to ensure that waiting times are resolved, to enable apprentices to progress through their apprenticeships as quickly as is feasible. SOLAS has committed that by the end of the year the vast majority, if not all, of the apprentices waiting for phase 2 placement will have commenced their training. It is expected that by April, the backlogs for phases 4 and 6 will be cleared.
I thank the Minister. Last year saw only 1,798 apprentices become fully qualified tradespeople. This is close to 600 fewer than the number in 2020. It represents the lowest number of newly qualified tradespeople since 2017. The Minister know this is not as a result of the lack of interest of young people in taking up apprenticeships or a lack of demand from the construction sector. It is being caused by a lack of capacity in the off-site classroom training that each apprentice needs to progress.
I welcome the capital funding. It is vital and badly needed. I want to see some of it go to Ballyhaunis, which made a proposal last June for a further education and training centre. As well as facilitating existing classes the funding will facilitate apprenticeships. I want to single out Ballyhaunis which, as the Minister knows, has dozens of foreign nationals. The community is doing a brilliant job to build the capacity of these people. Having a centre would make all the difference.
I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising the issue of Ballyhaunis. I will ask my officials to engage with SOLAS regarding it. A competitive call is under way now and, from memory, applications are due in by the first week of April. It will be up to the local ETBs to prioritise the projects they wish to see funded in the first competitive capital call. I will ensure that my officials and SOLAS are aware of Ballyhaunis.
The Deputy has pointed out the reduced number of apprentices who fully qualified in a year. We must, though, also be truthful about why that was. We had significant lockdowns and restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I have seen heroic work done across the sector and people trying to reduce those times now when the sector is back at full throttle. We have allocated a great deal of additional support. That would be acknowledged by SOLAS and the ETBs. We are taking on additional trainers and saying that the backlog for phases 4 and 6 will be cleared by April. We are also saying that by the end of the year, the waiting list for phase 2 will effectively be cleared, if not fully cleared. I and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, who is away on Government business tonight, will be monitoring this aspect closely and Deputy Conway-Walsh will be asking me about this issue every time we have questions too.
This is about someone taking up an apprenticeship and being able to do that programme in the set length of time of four years. I am concerned about the drop-out rate as well. Perhaps that is a figure we can look at another day. We do not want people dropping out of apprenticeships. The State has saved €55 million, mostly from apprenticeship allowances, but has reinvested only €37 million in the programme. Apprentices have not been treated with the same consideration and importance as other third level students. They are vital to our economy, across all areas, in respect of development of the regions and the opportunities that will be presented in that regard, whether in renewable energy, construction and everything else that needs to be done. I am also concerned that the backlog is being used as a justification for reforming the traditional model of craft apprenticeships. There has been a real debate regarding why it is planned to dismantle the traditional craft apprenticeship model in favour of a decentralised and industry-led approach. What is the rationale for that change? I am concerned about it.
The Deputy makes a fair point regarding the voice of the apprentice. For example, if I wish to talk to third level students, I can talk to the USI and if I wish to talk to university presidents, then I talk to the Irish University Association, the Technological Higher Education Association, THEA, etc. Who does one talk to, however, when one wishes to talk to the apprentice on the front line, other than going around apprenticeship centres, which the Deputy and I do? The new national apprenticeship alliance, which we are establishing and have just signed off on its composition, will for the first time see apprentices have a collective voice. It is important to have a voice for apprentices that I, the Deputy and SOLAS can talk to and that can be heard. That is important.
I assure the Deputy that there is nothing to do with Covid-19 backlogs or anything else in the idea of having a new structure concerning decentralising the craft apprenticeship model. The idea is to have one structure for all our apprenticeship programmes. We have 62 of them. The crafts and trades are so important, but so too is the account technician, the people working in insurance, the farm manager and the hairdresser. We need to have one unified system. This will be done in consultation with stakeholders, with staff and with trade unions. Their voices will be heard, so there is no motive in doing this, other than to genuinely try to create a modern, fit-for-purpose and unified apprenticeship system.
