John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The witnesses are all very welcome and I thank them for their attendance. I should be more familiar with some aspects and I ask the witnesses to provide quick answers to my questions.

I have questions on the minimum educational requirement or minimum age to join an apprenticeship programme. I understand it is traditional for an apprentice to find a company first and then apply to participate in the programme. From that, do we know whether there are young people who want to undertake apprenticeships but struggle to do so because they cannot locate a company?

The plan included the introduction of an employers' grant scheme. Do the witnesses assess that scheme as having been successful? Does it need to be increased? Do we need to do something to increase the number of companies that are happy to employ apprentices?

I had intended raising some of the issues concerning pay and working conditions like some of my colleagues have done. To me, it sounds like there is a gap in service provision and I believe there should be somebody to oversee the standards under which the apprentices are employed. Both SOLAS and the ETBI provide programmes but I gather they do not have that role. We need a body to take up that role even if it is one of the existing labour relations bodies because we need to make sure that apprentices are well treated and suitably remunerated for their efforts.

As has been reflected in the recent positive comments about completion by Ms Murphy, do we know whether apprentices are retained in the companies in which they undertook their apprenticeships?

I will now reflect on the programme that spanned the last five years because we are here today to develop a new programme. There was an ambition to reach 10,000 new apprenticeships a year. In 2020, there were around 5,500 apprenticeships and we have reached 9,000 new entrants as of this year. Are the witnesses confident that we will reach the target of 10,000 apprenticeships annually for the next five years?

The phases of programmes have been mentioned a lot. How many phases are there and how long is each phase?

Mr. Grady mentioned life skills. Does training in life skills form part of every apprenticeship programme? If so, in what phase does it occur? Finally, what is the engagement level by apprentices?

I wish to refer to another issue that was mentioned earlier. I was disappointed to hear that we have not reached the crucial target of 750 apprentices in the public service. I agree with what was said by the speakers earlier in that those are skills that we need not just in local authorities but, as we have heard, they are needed in Bus Éireann and the health service. I noted that the previous plan did have an ambition for the HSE to establish a new consortium to develop an NFQ level 5 apprenticeship for the occupation of healthcare assistant. We struggle to find healthcare assistants and consequently, provide work permits and hire internationally. The whole public sector should be encouraged that they meet their target and maybe the target should be individualised per public sector service. I mean local authorities, the HSE, ETBs and universities. In the past, universities all had tradespeople as part of their staffing cohort but now most of that work is done by subcontractors, which is a disappointment.

My last question is on standards and accreditation.

SOLAS remains responsible for developing and setting curriculum and assessment. Does Mr. Browlee still have full confidence in the examination process, the integrity of the examinations and the accreditation of the courses?

I saw some media reports last weekend about how there seems to have been a flaw in the examination process for one programme. In his introductory remarks, Mr. Brownlee stated SOLAS will introduce a rolling out of a new, revalidated curriculum with updated assessments. Is that because of that flaw, or is it a general review that would have happened anyway? That is happening for 25 craft apprenticeships. Should that be done that across all programmes?