Wednesday, 6 Jul 2016

Written Answers Nos. 100 - 107

Legislative Measures

Ceisteanna (100)

Peter Burke

Ceist:

100. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason section 28 of the Education Act 1998 has never been fully enacted. [19990/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills

The Programme for a Partnership Government provides that the Government will introduce a stronger complaints procedure and charter for parents, and commence the Fitness to Teach provisions of the Teaching Council Act.

The Programme also provides that the role and the power of an Ombudsman for Education, to whom a parent could complain and appeal on foot of a decision by a board of management, will be examined by the relevant Oireachtas committee to ensure its consistency with the need to ensure better local decision making and accountability to parents.

Both of these commitments are part of a continuum because having a dedicated ombudsman with a power to deal with parental complaints would be a residual, but potentially important function where local resolution has failed.

I think that the relevant Oireachtas Committee will need to consider both programme commitments together. Work already under way in my Department envisages legislative change to Section 28 of the Education Act 1998, and creating an ombudsman with powers to externally review school actions would require new legislation that could be progressed in tandem.

Apprenticeship Programmes

Ceisteanna (101)

Niall Collins

Ceist:

101. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the spend on apprenticeship training and the number of apprentices in training, by employment sector, in each of the years from 2010 to 2016 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20004/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following tables.

It should be noted that the 2016 apprentice population is based on forecast figures.

Table 1

Year	Cost €’000 *	Apprentice Population
2010	68.015	10,172
2011	43.353	8,327
2012	32.166	6,222
2013	27.942	5,711
2014	25.900	6,913
2015	34.800	8,317
2016	43.000	11,250

* Direct provision costs in ETB training centres plus training allowances at all off the job phases. Excludes certain salary and support costs and provision costs in Institutes of Technology

Table 2 – Active apprenticeship population by sector

Sectors	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Construction	3808	2761	1693	1197	1437	1735	2400
Electrical	3566	2997	2167	2030	2552	3099	4200
Engineering	964	943	893	1021	1233	1441	1800
Motor	1780	1586	1443	1440	1668	2016	2600
Printing & Paper	54	40	26	23	23	26	25
Total	10172	8327	6222	5711	6913	8319	11025

Apprenticeship Programmes

Ceisteanna (102)

Niall Collins

Ceist:

102. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills to list the category 2 and category 3 apprenticeships referred to in the 2015 Apprenticeship Council report on new apprenticeship programme proposals; when he will complete these categories and operationalise them for immediate roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20005/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills

I understand that the Apprenticeship Council has provided feedback to category 2 and 3 consortia in relation to their proposals. Consortia engaged with the call for proposals on the basis that details would only be published of proposals approved for progression to a detailed planning stage. At this stage, I do not propose to publish details of category 2 and 3 proposals.

The Programme for Government commits to providing a total of 31,000 places by 2020 on existing and new apprenticeships. SOLAS and the Apprenticeship Council are preparing a 3 year plan to deliver on the Programme for Government commitments, which will include managing the pipeline of new apprenticeships already identified by the Apprenticeship Council, including those in categories 2 and 3 and looking at the timing and nature of new calls for proposals.

Apprenticeship Programmes

Ceisteanna (103)

Niall Collins

Ceist:

103. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of apprentices, including traineeships projected to be in training, by employment sector, in each of the years from 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20006/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills

The projected apprenticeship population in the existing trades for the years 2016 – 2018 is set out in the following table 1 provided by SOLAS. SOLAS do not currently have forecasts beyond 2018 but their Skills and Labour Market Research Unit will review and extend apprenticeship forecasts later this year.

In addition to forecast numbers in the existing trades, apprentices will also be registered on a range of new apprenticeships that will be developed under the auspices of the Apprenticeship Council. A number of these new apprenticeships will commence registration this year and further apprenticeships will come on stream in 2017 and future years. The Programme for Government commits to providing a total of 31,000 places by 2020 on existing and new apprenticeships. SOLAS and the Apprenticeship Council are preparing a 3 year plan to deliver on the Programme for Government commitments, which will include managing the pipeline of new apprenticeships already identified by the Apprenticeship Council and looking at the timing and nature of new calls for proposals.

Table 2 sets out the projected numbers in traineeship by employment sector in 2016. SOLAS do not currently have forecasts for participation in traineeship for the years 2017-2020.

Table 1 - Projected numbers in existing apprenticeships by industry sector 2016-2018

Industry Sectors	2016	2017	2018
Construction	2400	2880	3456
Electrical	4200	5040	6048
Engineering	1800	2160	2592
Motor	2600	3120	3744
Printing & Paper	25	30	35
Total	11025	13230	15875

Table 2 - Projected numbers in traineeship by employment sector in 2016*

Traineeship Provision 2016	Projected
Animal Science	40
Built Environment	103
Business, Administration	887
Financial Services	32
Food and Beverage	99
Hairdressing, Beauty	388
Health, Family other	1775
Information	435
Manufacturing	61
Natural Resources	38
Sales and Marketing	207
Science	17
Tourism and Sport	267
Transport	140
Total	4489

* Traineeship programmes are shorter than apprenticeships and these figures include both those on courses at the start of 2016 and projected starters during the year.

Institutes of Technology

Ceisteanna (104, 105, 106, 107)

Lisa Chambers

Ceist:

104. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills his short-term and medium-term plans for the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, given the latest figures confirming that it carried a budget deficit of €2.46 million during the 2014-15 financial year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20015/16]

Lisa Chambers

Ceist:

105. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reserves he refers to when he states the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology has reserves which can be used to meet its deficit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20016/16]

Lisa Chambers

Ceist:

106. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will allocate more funding to the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, if required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20017/16]

Lisa Chambers

Ceist:

107. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has restored core funding to the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Castlebar, County Mayo; if not, his plans to do so in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20018/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Education and Skills

I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 to 107, inclusive, together.

My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA designated higher education institutions, including Institutes such as Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). The HEA allocates this funding to the institutions and the internal disbursement of funding is then a matter for the individual institution.

GMIT is entitled to core funding in the same manner as any institute of technology. Core funding is driven primarily by student numbers, either via a free fees contribution or the Recurrent Grant Allocation Model (RGAM) which is the mechanism used by the HEA to allocation funding. The HEA has no scope to allocate additional funding to any higher education institute beyond that level derived from the free fees and RGAM allocations. A review of the approach to funding higher education institutions is to be undertaken by the HEA later in 2016 and this will consider whether additional considerations need to be taken into account within the funding model, such as regional role or contribution or the operation of multiple campuses.

As the Deputy is aware, GMIT has reported an operating deficit of €2.463m in their 2014/15 draft financial accounts. The current reserves held by GMIT total €5.6m but this has been significantly depleted by the deficit noted for 2014/15.

The HEA are closely monitoring the financial position of all of the IoTs and in particular are working closely with those operating in deficit, including GMIT, to ensure appropriate mechanisms are put in place to eliminate the deficit as quickly as possible.

In particular, the HEA has a policy framework in place for engaging with vulnerable IoTs like GMIT, which requires institutes to submit a three year plan to return them to a balanced budget situation. GMIT has presented the HEA with their three year plan which shows a gradual decreasing of the deficit in 2015/16 and 2016/17 with a return to surplus projected in 2017/18. The plan makes it clear that this will be dependent on a successful retention strategy, reductions in staffing and new programme development to increase student demand. The HEA will continue to monitor the position and work with GMIT to address the deficit issue.