Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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106. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the initiatives in place to increase female job upskilling and female training and apprenticeship opportunities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29537/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Female participation in further education and training is generally strong with more women than men enrolling on many of the full time programmes, including traineeships and Post Leaving Certificate programmes. The situation on apprenticeship, as set out below, is different.  Female participation is also strong in higher education, although there are specific issues in the STEM area, including ICT. The Smart Futures initiative, managed by Science Foundation Ireland, promotes STEM-related careers to both males and females. Resources are available through their smartfutures.ie website, including content using strong female role models.

SOLAS are currently conducting research into barriers to participation in Further Education and Training. This will cover issues such as childcare, which impact on female participation. I understand that this study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The 2014 Review of Apprenticeship in Ireland acknowledged that the number of women employed in craft apprenticeships is low as they operate in sectors that have traditionally low levels of female employment. SOLAS offers a bursary to employers to encourage women to take up apprenticeships in these areas. Despite this the number of female apprentices remains low.

Currently the Apprenticeship Council is overseeing the expansion of the apprenticeship system into a range of new areas, following a call for proposals from employers and education and training providers. 25 proposals have been prioritised by the Council for development. The first of these new apprenticeships, the Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship, was launched last month with further new apprenticeships to be launched later this year and early next year.

Many of these new apprenticeships are in sectors where there is a different gender balance in the workplace and I am confident that this will lead to a strong increase in female participation when these new apprenticeships are launched in the coming months.

Accompanying the renewal and expansion of apprenticeship in Ireland will be a new branding and marketing campaign. SOLAS will examine how this campaign can assist with promoting apprenticeship to women and to their potential employers.