Dick Spring
Ceist:131 Mr. Spring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has satisfied herself with the facilities available for apprentices to complete the work and educational components. [8044/00]
Written Answers. - Apprenticeship Scheme.
The facilities for the on-the-job, work based phases of the standards based apprenticeship system are provided by the individual apprentice's employer and monitored by FÁS. FÁS also provides the initial phase of the off-the-job training for apprentices. Apprentices who fulfil the relevant work and training and educational requirements can complete their apprenticeship. Due to an unprecedented increase in the numbers of apprentices being registered, some bottlenecks have arisen in the provision of off-the-job training. This has resulted in some delays for apprentices in completing their training. Delays have also arisen where employers fail to release apprentices for off-the-job training when called by FÁS or where apprentices refuse to take up the offer of training at a location specified by FÁS.
From 1997 to 1999 the number of registered apprentices has risen from 11,371 to 20,893. FÁS has been increasing the level of training provision in response to the increased numbers.
The number of apprentices completing off-the-job training in FÁS centres increased from 3,348 in 1997 to 4,984 in 1999. To cater for this, FÁS current cost spending in relation to this phase of training increased by 31% in 1998 over the previous year; the corresponding increase in 1999 was 33% and expenditure will rise this year by a further 19%. FÁS has recruited 39 additional temporary instructors to give extra apprenticeship courses. This significant investment by FÁS in its budgetary and training provision is designed to substantially address the bottleneck being experienced with this off-the-job phase of apprenticeship training.
My colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, has put in train a major capital invest ment programme to provide extra capacity for the educational component of apprenticeship. It is intended that extra facilities will be provided in Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford Institutes of Technology as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile the institutes of technology have been provided with additional resources to enable them to expand existing programmes where possible. Extra staff have been sanctioned and additional funding is being provided to meet the cost of extra courses. In the two financial years 1998 and 1999, a total of £6 million of additional recurrent funding was provided to fund additional courses. A further £5 million extra is being provided this year. As a result of the measures taken to date the number of apprentices completing off-the-job training in the education sector has increased from 2,035 in 1997 to 5,270 in 1999.
Most recently, the Department of Education and Science has put forward proposals for additional apprenticeship classes at the institutes of technology during the summer months and is liaising with the institutes with a view to putting in place the necessary arrangements for this.
My Department, in conjunction with FÁS and the Department of Education and Science, is continuing to keep the situation under review.