Ms Meadhbh Costello:

Currently, there is a ten-step process in place for the approval and development of new apprenticeship programmes. At each of those phases, there is the opportunity for slight delays. It can take, on average, one year or one year and a half for the development of some programmes. For others, it can take years longer. For employers identifying a skills deficit at that stage, if it takes three years for the development of a programme and four years to put an apprentice through it, it means the curricula are potentially already out of date before they get the apprentice out. We would like to see how we could improve that ten-step process and maybe slim it down a bit without affecting the quality assurance aspects, of course.

We must also look at how we can improve communication with employers and prepare them before they go into the process so that they are aware of how the process works and that they have all of the information set out. We have experienced some delays related to employers who were unaware about how the process works. The more experienced consortia can move through the process a lot faster than newcomers to the process. We would like to see a more slimmed-down process, as well as stronger communication with those consortia who are coming forward to put proposals on the table so that this can never be a reason for delay.