Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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299. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the ETBs are delivering training to private sector companies in the commercial market; and if so, if the service they are providing is subsidised by the tax payer. [9868/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Systematic data is not currently gathered by SOLAS on this provision.  Since January an integrated database for the further education and training (FET) sector, the Programme and Learner Support Service (PLSS), has been implemented which will capture a broad range of data including data on learners, courses, course impact and learner follow up. 

ETBs, in common with other publicly funded education and training providers, do deliver some services to employees of private sector companies.  Information currently provided by ETBs via the annual service planning process indicates that this provision is limited in scope.  Over recent years, with the exception of apprenticeship, training provision has been primarily focused on unemployed people, in particular those who are long-term unemployed.  Currently, the only dedicated structured provision for employees within FET is the Skills for Work Programme.  It is delivered on a part-time basis and targets employees with low literacy skills, low qualifications, and/or low participation in formal education. Approximately 2,700 persons participate in this programme each year. The budget allocation for 2016 for Skills for Work is €2.75m, provided from the National Training Fund.   The duration of each programme is generally 35 hours.

Work is nearing completion on the development of a policy framework to guide activity undertaken by the FET sector to support employee development in Ireland in alignment with the National Skills Strategy 2025.  When complete, the framework will set out how the ETBs will contribute to upskilling of people in employment, including addressing issues in relation to the appropriate approach to costs.