Ms Marian Duggan:

An important aspect of apprenticeship is the employer. The employer has such an important role to play and must be supported. Often employers have difficulty in releasing staff in order to partake in apprenticeship programmes. Extra support must be given to employers, particularly with a view to increasing the number of females that they attract into apprenticeship positions and into apprenticeship education. Another important point, as Mr. Horgan has outlined, is that the new generation apprenticeship programmes and the new opportunities at higher levels for apprentices, from level 7 up to level 10, is a means of attracting more females into this education route. That must welcomed in the context of increasing diversity and increasing female participation in apprenticeship.