Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
1218. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he intended to conduct an updated review of the cost of providing consortia-led apprenticeships given the increase from 5,100 in 2015 to an estimated 9,877; the targeted cost once programmes are established and set up cost are no longer a factor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20879/22]
View answerThe Government is committed under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 to working with employers to promote, enable, and support the recruitment and training of apprentices. There is a very substantial allocation of resources to apprenticeships drawing on the funding raised through the Employer Training Levy into the National Training Fund. Therefore, apprenticeships are not a direct cost to the exchequer.
In 2019, the last pre-Covid full year, registrations were at 6,177. 2020 saw 5,326 registrations, and by 2021 there were a record 8,607 registrations. The associated expenditure for those years was €160m in 2019, €184 in 2020, and €198m in 2021. The 2022 budget allocation for apprenticeship is €206m.
Calculating a cost-per-apprentice is a complex matter involving fixed costs, such as programme development costs, and variable costs per participating apprentice. The nature of specific apprenticeships is also an influencing factor. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a Spending Review of Apprenticeships in 2019. This estimated the average annual cost per apprentice in craft apprenticeships at €7,159 and €9,877 for consortia-led programmes.
[igees.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Review-of-Participation-and-Costs-of-Apprenticeships.pdf]
The scheduling of the next update to this review is a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
