Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 May 2017
25. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address concerns about the current low rate of creating new apprenticeships and that the targets in the programme for Government will not be met; his views on whether there are significant barriers to creating new apprenticeships; and the steps he will take to address the slow rate of progress. [25041/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI apologise to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for being late. I assumed that I needed to be present at 2.17 p.m., so I was outside.
Graciously accepted.
Tá brón orm. This question goes to the heart of the Minister's apprenticeship strategy and asks if it is just a target or number that has been picked or whether real policy and money are behind it. Apprenticeships are badly needed, so we must open them up more than has been the case to date.
The Deputy has a keen interest in apprenticeships. The programme for Government commits to providing 31,000 apprenticeship places by 2020, and the Action Plan for Education states that we will enrol 50,000 people on apprenticeship and traineeship programmes in the period to 2020. This represents more than a doubling of the 2016 activity.
The Apprenticeship Council is overseeing the expansion of the apprenticeship system into a range of new sectors of the economy. Following its first call for proposals in 2015, the council has been working closely with consortia to develop their proposals into sustainable apprenticeships. Last year, we saw the first of these new programmes with the insurance practitioner apprenticeship, which launched in September, and the industrial electrical engineer apprenticeship, which will get under way in November. Three further new programmes are registering apprentices and will commence in May and June of this year, two in the medical devices area and one in polymer processing. A further ten programmes are expected to get under way later this year in various sectors, including hospitality, financial services and accountancy.
As well as developments in new apprenticeships, registrations in the craft trades are increasing as the employment and economic situation improves. In 2016, there were 3,742 registrations, representing a significant recovery since the crash. The upward trend continues this year, with registrations at the end of April of 1,585, which is almost double the corresponding period in 2014. Registrations in the craft trades are predicted to grow to 5,587 over the period to 2020.
In January, we published the Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020, which sets out a series of detailed actions and annual targets on how the commitments set out in the programme for Government and the Action Plan for Education will be met.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The plan sets out a clear ten-step critical path for the development of an apprenticeship and an overall timeline of 12 to 15 months. One of the key commitments for this year was the issuing of a second call for proposals to refresh the pipeline of proposals already established through the first call. The second call issued earlier this month, and it is now open to industry and education and training providers to submit proposals for new apprenticeship programmes in their sectors. In conjunction with the second call, an information handbook has been produced for consortia that sets out in detail the ten-step critical path for the development of a new apprenticeship and also the key resources available to consortia to support them in the development process. The handbook, along with other supporting material, is available on the new apprenticeship website, www.apprenticeship.ie, which will be a key source of information for apprentices, employers and industry looking at the apprenticeship model as a means of meeting their skill needs.
My Department, its agencies and the Apprenticeship Council are working in close collaboration with the combined aim of delivering these targets. Next month, curricula for five programmes will be considered for validation by Quality and Qualifications Ireland. The Apprenticeship Council continues to work with consortia from the first call on developing their proposals into sustainable apprenticeships. Recently, development funding has been approved for a further four programmes in the areas of retail practice, property services, engineering and ICT. A further ten proposals will shortly submit detailed development plans to the council and, subject to approval, will progress to development. Additional resources have been made available to agencies to support them in the expansion programme.
Arising from the first call, we have five programmes that are operational, 19 programmes that are at various stages of development and a further ten programmes that are about to move to development. Much has been learned in the expansion project and I am confident that we now have a clear process with strong governance to allow for the efficient development and approval of new apprenticeships. This will enable us to develop apprenticeships as an attractive and valued option for school leavers and other learners.
One of the issues that we need to be conscious of is the perception of apprenticeships. They are not yet seen as an alternative to third level for people who might want to do them. Clearly, the new insurance practitioner apprenticeship is an alternative, given that it is a level 8 qualification - a degree, but one done in a different way.
I hope that the Minister of State will support a suggestion of mine. I do not see why he would not and I have referred the suggestion to the Ceann Comhairle. The House of Commons in London has a scheme under which it has developed new apprenticeship programmes, for example, in office administration or even political communications.
I have suggested in a letter to the Ceann Comhairle that the Oireachtas would look at that, and I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for referring it to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. Not only would that help us here in the Oireachtas but it would also change the perception of apprenticeships as it shows it is the sort of education that we in the House would want to have available. It would also send out a wider message to employers. I hope the Minister of State will support this and add his weight to it. I believe it is a good idea. There is already a precedent for this in London and I believe it would definitely open doors for the whole programme, apart from opening doors for people into the Oireachtas.
I thank the Deputy and I would welcome a further meeting with him on that suggestion. I regularly meet companies that are interested in apprenticeships. If we look at the basic apprenticeships we usually would have spoken about, such as for plasterers, bricklayers, carpenters and so on, it is interesting that we are now moving into apprenticeships for industrial electrical engineers, manufacturing technicians, polymer processing manufacturing technicians, engineers up to level 7, OEM technicians, telecoms field technicians, ICT network engineers, HGV drivers and property services apprentices. There is a whole list that runs from commis chef to sous chef, craft butcher, executive chef, accounting technician and so on.
All the time we are looking for ideas and proposals, whether they come from Deputies in the House, whose opinions I value, or from outside bodies that have an interest in creating apprenticeships. The Deputy's proposal is certainly worth considering and I would value a meeting with him, perhaps next week, to discuss it further. If there is merit in it, which there appears to be, having listened to the Deputy, we may very well be able to take it on board.
I would very much welcome that. As I said, the precedent is already there in the House of Commons, so it should be easily transferable. The Oireachtas already has a relationship with DIT, which I believe is being developed separately by the Ceann Comhairle.
I have one query. All the Government's targets for apprenticeships are national targets and they require money. Does the Minister of State believe he will have the money? Can he say that these targets will be met because the funding will be available for them, or is some more radical option needed to try to divert some of the resources from the Higher Education Authority into training and apprenticeships and to move the student bodies around? While I am not proposing that, it is an idea some people have and it is certainly a model of education in other countries in western Europe.
To take the second question, a new funding mechanism is being discussed with employers at present and I will keep the Deputy informed as to how that is progressing. On the first question, there is already a new call out for apprenticeships and perhaps the valuable proposal the Deputy makes will come into that. Given the previous position of apprenticeships, which had reduced in number to approximately 3,670, there has been phenomenal development across the spectrum in the past two to three years. As to whether we will reach the target and whether the money is available, as I said, a call is out. We have seen the value of investing in apprenticeships and the take-up has been phenomenal. There is no reason we would not want that to continue.
