Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 October 2023
237. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 1085 of 20 September 2023, the current number of apprentices waiting for off-the-job training at levels 2, 4 and 6; the numbers waiting for such training in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43004/23]
View answerThe information requested by Deputy Farrell is presented in the tables below.
At the end of September this year, 5,345 apprentices were waiting longer than six months. There will always be a degree of waiting for apprentices, due to factors such as term commencement dates in higher education institutions and increased demand some craft programmes but this is generally limited to less than six months.
My Department continues to work closely with SOLAS and the ETBs to increase training capacity, a very important step in responding to the challenge of craft apprentices waiting to access off-the-job training. It is intended to deliver some 15,300 places in 2023.
In order to further accelerate 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.
Waiting list for off-the-job training
|
31 Aug 2022 |
31 Aug 2023 |
30 Sep 2023 |
|
|
Waiting longer than 6mths |
5,252 |
5,257 |
5,345 |
|
Ph2 >6mths |
5,159 |
5,212 |
5,194 |
|
Ph4 & 6 >6mths |
93 |
45 |
151 |
Craft registrations, populations and training capacity
|
Registrations |
Population |
Training capacity |
|
|
2019 |
5,271 |
16,142 |
10,002 |
|
2020 |
4,377 |
17,183 |
7,078 |
|
2021 |
6,955 |
20,956 |
7,368 |
|
2022 |
6,299 |
22,429 |
13,336 |
|
2023 (YTD) |
4,530 |
21,877 |
14,800 (estimated) |
