Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
82. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the average wait time for an apprentice to enter each of the taught phases, by county, in tabular form; if he is aware of delays (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40478/23]
View answerThe table requested is being collated and I will provide the Deputy with the information in writing.
Since becoming Minister, I have prioritised increasing pathways after secondary school through Apprenticeship.
The apprenticeship system provides a real and substantive career pathway for first time learners, it allows them to ‘earn while they learn’ whilst also combining practical hands on training with classroom learning.To date, the programmes on offer through this model have expanded to address areas of skills shortage such as engineering, technology, logistics, and fin-tech.
The current buoyant labour market, coupled with the recognition of apprenticeship as a valuable employment and skills development opportunity, is a welcome endorsement of this Government’s support of, and ambitions for, Apprenticeships in the tertiary sector.
The broader range of apprenticeship offerings and a growth in registrations, linked to the re-opening of the economy after the pandemic, created an apprentice population of 24,212 by the end of 2021. Strong registrations continued in 2022, with 8,286 registrations - an increase of 34% on the pre-Covid figure in 2019, and a population of 26,325 at year end. This trend has continued in 2023, with 4,711 registrations to end-August and a population of 25,409.
The increased popularity of apprenticeship, particularly in areas relating to construction, coupled with legacy backlogs from Covid-related closures has meant ongoing delays in offering training.
There is a crucial requirement to align training capacity in ETBs with the continued strong demand for apprenticeships - with particular focus on apprenticeships linked to the construction sector - and also to put in place further measures that will add to capacity over the period required to respond to ongoing delays in apprenticeship training.
In August 2021, there were almost 12,000 apprentices awaiting off-the-job training. At the end of August this year, 7,578 apprentices were waiting for off-the-job training. Of these, 5,257 apprentices were waiting longer than six months.
The pipefitting apprentice referenced by the Deputy is one of 340 apprentices across the country waiting for phase 4 training at the end of August this year, of which 15 apprentices had been waiting for longer than 6 months.
In relation to the particular case raised by the Deputy. My officials have engaged with SOLAS on the matter. SOLAS will contact the individual with an update on his placement in the near future.
Reducing the number of apprentices waiting for training has been an area of unrelenting focus for this Government.
During 2019, some 9,700 craft apprentices were being put through off-the-job training. This dropped to 7,000 in 2020 due largely to the impact of Covid, and returned to growth in 2021 with the number of apprentices trained increasing to 7,300. My Department has worked closely with SOLAS and the ETBs to continue to increase training capacity, resulting in 13,000 places delivered in 2022, a very important step in responding to the challenge of apprentices waiting to access off-the-job training. It is intended to deliver some 15,300 places in total in 2023.
In order to further accelerate and intensify delivery of increased apprenticeship training capacity, a taskforce chaired by my Department composed of representatives of SOLAS, the National Apprenticeship Office, the Higher Education Authority, Education and Training Boards Ireland, the Education and Training Boards, and union representatives has been established with responsibility to implement successfully a set of actions to address this very significant and important issue.
