Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will detail for each individual craft apprenticeship provided by FÁS, the annual and total cost per apprentice of providing the training element of their apprenticeship excluding the cost of an apprentice's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13027/09]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The table attached shows the average cost per apprentice for the training element of their apprenticeship broken down by trade group. FÁS have supplied information that could be provided in response to the Deputy's question in the time available. FÁS do not apportion staff costs and overheads to the various trades and in addition FÁS do not have information on staff costs and overheads for phases 4 & 6, as these are carried out by the Institutes of Technology. Following a further exercise to apportion these costs across the Apprenticeship programme and then within trade, FÁS will be in a position to provide the information to the Deputy within the next week, with the proviso that costs incurred by the Institutes of Technology would not be included in determining a full cost of the training element.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 123: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of apprentices in receipt of apprentice allowance from FÁS with a breakdown of same by craft, and within each craft by phase; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13028/09]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Standard Based Apprenticeship programme is an alternance training programme consisting of seven phases of which four are on-the-job with the employer and three are off-the-job in FÁS/Institutes of Technology/ Colleges of Further Education. These off-the-job phases total approximately 40 weeks out of 208 weeks of the apprenticeship programme. Apprentices receive a training allowance from FÁS, which is equivalent to industry wage norm, while they are completing the off-the-job training phases of their apprenticeship. These occur at phases 2, 4 and 6. Apprentices completing phases 1,3,5 and 7 of their apprenticeship are paid by their employer. The table below outlines the number of apprentices currently in receipt of an allowance from FÁS by trade and phase.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 124: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the organisations other than FÁS which carry out approved apprenticeships; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13029/09]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Only FÁS has a role in approving apprenticeships. All employers must be approved by FÁS in advance of apprentices being recruited and registered with them. This is to ensure that such employers can provide the necessary on-the-job training and progress assessments in a way that meets the particular requirements of the apprenticeship system.

Other organisations do have a role in the provision of parts of the Standards Based Apprenticeship system administered by FÁS. FÁS provides phase 2 training to apprentices and the Institutes of Technology provide phase 4 and 6 training. Phases 1, 3, 5 and 7 are provided on-the-job in conjunction with the individual employers of apprentices. The following organisations provide off-the-job training for the Standard Based Apprenticeship programmes:

Athlone Institutes of Technology

Carlow Institute of Technology

Cork Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology

Department of Defence (Air Corp)

Blancharstown Institute of Technology

Dundalk Institute of Technology

Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education

Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology

Limerick Institute of Technology

Mallow College of Further Education

Sligo Institute of Technology

Tallaght Institute of Technology

Tralee Institute of Technology

Waterford Institute of Technology

South West College Skills Centre on behalf of Sligo Institute of Technology.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 125: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the cost in 2008 and the budgeted amount for 2009 in respect of the apprentice allowance provided by FÁS with a breakdown of same by craft and within each craft by phase; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13030/09]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The following table shows the breakdown of the cost of the allowances for apprentices paid by FÁS in 2008 and estimates of the 2009 allocation.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount spent in 2007 and 2008 on the apprenticeship activities of FÁS with a detailed breakdown of same; the budgeted amount for 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13031/09]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy is as outlined in the tabular statement.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 127: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount spent in 2008 by FÁS on the FÁS Jobs Ireland project; the amount budgeted for same in 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13032/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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FÁS Jobs Ireland is an on-line marketplace where Jobseekers and Employers can find information and profiles about prospective jobs and staff in Ireland and across Europe. FÁS Jobs Ireland also provides a database of Training courses to suit all needs. It is an integrated system for:

receiving vacancies from employers and profiles from employees either by phone to a national call centre or inserted on-line;

distributing searchable information on those vacancies to interested job-seekers via the FÁS Website, self-service kiosks and to FÁS field staff through the Client Services System so they can match vacancies against the profiles of registered job-seeker clients.

The cost of running this system in 2008 was approximately €0.8 million, which includes staff costs and overheads. The cost is expected to be somewhat lower in 2009 due to a decrease in the number of vacancy notifications and the consequent redeployment of call centre staff to other front-line offices of the employment service. T he exact extent of the savings in this area will not be clear until year-end.