Dr. Mary-Liz Trant:

It has. Employers say they would prefer if it was more. At the moment, it is €2,000 euro per apprentice per year, which makes a contribution, but they say they would benefit from more, especially to take on more apprentices. There is mentoring and assessment on the job involved. It is quite an investment that an employer has to make. That is an ongoing debate with employers, and will need to be addressed in the new action plan for sure.

The craft apprenticeships have seven phases, but all of the 52 newer programmes have two or three days a week off the job each week, and that works very well. In the future, we will see a mix. The industrial electrical engineer apprenticeship, for example, offers both block release and day release. Employers have the opportunity to pick. That offers great flexibility, especially for smaller employers who do not want to have to try to release somebody for ten or 12 weeks. That is too hard, but they can definitely think about releasing somebody for a day or two days a week. That is the kind of flexibility we need to build into the system for the future.