I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 197 together.
The 2018 budget allocation for apprenticeship training is €122 million which represents an increase of almost 24% on the 2017 allocation of €98.7 million. This will support an end of year population of over 16,000 craft-based apprentices at an average of €6,700 per apprentice and an end of year population of over 2,000 in new consortia-led apprentices at an average of €5,100 per apprentice. The average of these two figures is the figure given to the Deputy in Parliamentary Question 388 of 7 November.