Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 June 2021
192. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the actions his Department will take to support greater participation of young women and other under-represented groups on apprenticeship programmes arising from the Apprenticeship Action Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30140/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 sets out a number of structural reforms to ensure that the apprenticeship system of the future is enabled to deliver a more responsive and visible offering to learners and employers.
A National Apprenticeship Alliance (NAA) will be established to provide stakeholder oversight of the delivery of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship in collaboration with a new National Apprenticeship office (NAO). Central to the NAA will be an Equity of Access Subcommittee which will include representation that ensures that links with second level, community education, youth justice programmes, broader FET provision and higher education are represented.
Targets for participation by under-represented groups, and additional specific actions to support those target groups will be set in conjunction with the Equity of Access Subcommittee and will be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that interventions are effective in supporting increased diversity of the apprentice population.
Specific immediate actions set out in the plan include:-
- A bursary of €2,666 is currently available to employers of women craft apprentices. This will be extended to all apprenticeship with over 80% participation of any gender to support gender diversity.
- An apprentice bursary/support scheme will be established to fund up to 100 apprentices per year who are experiencing severe socioeconomic disadvantage and who are from target groups, including lone parents, people with disabilities, Travellers and Roma.
- Access to apprenticeship programmes and pre-apprenticeship courses will be clearly labelled as such, with progression routes into apprenticeship clearly identified and information on these courses will be published on www. apprenticeship.ie.
- An employer survey will determine baseline employer attitude and extent of knowledge of supports available to employers for supporting employees with a disability.
The actions set out in the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 build on the outcomes of the 2018 Review of Pathways to Participation in Apprenticeship which has already resulted in a significant widening of measures to support increased visibility of apprenticeships. In April 2021, there were a total of 1,113 women apprentices, up from 60 in 2016.
