Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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172. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the lack of apprenticeships suitable for a number of employment vacancies such as chefs and in the hospitality sector generally, to upskill young unemployed workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16874/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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In January of this year, I launched the Action Plan to expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020, setting out how state agencies, education and training providers and employers will work together to deliver on the Programme for Government commitments on the expansion of apprenticeship and traineeship in the period to 2020. The Plan sets out how we will manage the pipeline of new apprenticeships already established through the first call for proposals in 2015 and also commits to a new call for apprenticeship proposals later this year, to provide for the needs of all sectors, including hospitality and tourism.  Over the lifetime of the Action Plan, 50,000 people will be registered on apprenticeship and traineeship programmes representing a doubling of current activity.

Work is progressing on the development of a new Commis Chef Apprenticeship led by the Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurants Association of Ireland working with Kerry Education and Training Board. It is planned that this programme will commence later this year.  The Apprenticeship Council also recently approved development funding for a separate proposal to develop a Chef de Partie Apprenticeship.  The Apprenticeship Council will continue to work with the proposers of these new programmes to develop them into sustainable apprenticeships that can be delivered on a nationwide basis. The funding for planned and forecast expansion in 2017 will see an additional €20million provided. 

In 2015 a new Career Traineeship initiative was initiated by SOLAS in collaboration with the ETBs and enterprise to develop a more effective model of work-based learning, primarily at NFQ levels 4 and 5, incorporating best national and international research and practice. Networks have been created to facilitate partnerships between ETBs and employers to identify training needs, design training programmes, recruit learners and deliver training on and off the job. The Career Traineeship model of work-based learning is currently being piloted with the hospitality and engineering sectors, with the involvement of seven ETBs.