Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for outlining the important work being undertaken by the Department. I will speak briefly on the topics of literacy, numeracy and digital literacy, for which a strategy is currently being developed, apprenticeships, skills and eCollege.

Work is well under way by SOLAS on the development of a ten-year adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy strategy. This new strategy will provide a framework to build on and streamline the substantial work that is already being done across a range of Departments and agencies to increase awareness of services for the public and to capture the contribution that can be made across government to deliver better literacy, numeracy and digital skills in the adult population. The extensive research and consultation phases of the strategy's development are almost complete. It is intended to send the completed strategy to the Government in the coming months.

With regard to apprenticeships, the Government has set a target of 10,000 new apprentice registrations annually by 2025. A new apprenticeship action plan will set out a clear and ambitious roadmap for the next five years which will more fully integrate apprenticeship into the further and higher education and training landscape. It will be finalised in the coming weeks. The apprenticeship incentivisation scheme, which provides an employer grant of €3,000 payable over two years, has supported employers to take on apprentices and retain them during this difficult time. Almost €4 million has now been paid out under the scheme, supporting over 1,100 employers employing 2,000 apprentices. Apprenticeship will have a very important role to play in our post-Covid recovery and that is why we will continue to invest in and expand the apprenticeship system over the coming years.

As regards apprenticeship backlogs and the Covid-19 return to on-the-job training, a small number of critical and time-sensitive phase 2 apprenticeship classes returned to training on 1 March with strict Covid-19 measures agreed via the further education and training, FET, stakeholders forum. If all goes well with that cohort, another group will return on 15 March next. The Minister and I announced capital funding of €10 million for both SOLAS and the HEA to alleviate the backlog in off-the-job training for apprentices. This investment will provide almost 4,000 additional training places, which will both ease the short-term backlog and add capacity to the pipeline over the longer term. It will also support the Government’s commitment to expand apprenticeship registrations to 10,000 annually by 2025. The funding will also provide additional Covid-related capacity in electrical and plumbing, as well as addressing equipment requirements for other apprenticeships such as hairdressing and pipe fitting.

I will also comment on the opening of retrofitting centres. The greening of the economy and upgrading our housing stock in terms of energy efficiency will be vital to our future. Developing green skills and addressing the climate challenge are key priorities in the new FET strategy. The further education and training system will be central to delivering the relevant skills through expansion of its network of centres of excellence. To date, two centres of excellence are up and running in Waterford and Wexford ETB and Laois and Offaly ETB. A further three centres are under development and are expected to be operational in the coming months.

In the context of skills to advance in the hospitality sector, two new industry-recognised programmes have been created for the hospitality sector, which were announced by me and the Minister on 12 February last. To support recruitment for these programmes, the Irish Hotels Federation is leading a series of roadshow events to highlight the hospitality and tourism initiative developed with strategic partners. Limerick and Clare ETB has also commenced the roll-out of programmes to support the sector. Six other ETBs plan to commence delivery of programmes in March with a further seven ETBs commencing in April.

Finally, I will comment on eCollege. The eCollege courses are temporarily being made available free of charge to all as an additional support to those impacted by Covid-19 containment measures. There were 33,281 eCollege enrolments in 2020. Up to 4 March 2021, there have been 13,395 enrolments on eCollege courses.

I will be happy to take questions from the Deputies.

See this speech in context