Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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444. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of apprentices estimated to be enrolled in each of the years 2017 to 2021 inclusive of existing and estimated new registrations. [26754/17]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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449. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has set a target for the number of female participants to be enrolled in apprenticeships in each of the years 2017 to 2020. [26759/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 444 and 449 together.

The information sought by the Deputy in relation to target apprenticeship registrations in the period 2017 to 2020 is set out in the attached table. It should be noted that SOLAS do not currently have forecast registrations beyond 2020.

The Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship & Traineeship 2016-2020 sets out annual target apprenticeship registrations in the period to 2020. The Plan does not set registration targets for female apprentices. However, as the Deputy is aware, the Apprenticeship Council is currently overseeing the expansion of the apprenticeship system into new areas of the economy. Many of the new programmes currently being developed are in sectors where there is a greater gender balance in the workplace and through this expansion programme we will see an increase in female participation rates. We have already seen evidence of this with almost 40% of participants in the Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship, launched last year, being female.  However, female participation in the craft trades also needs to be examined and a review of pathways to apprenticeship, including female participation, will commence later this year.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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446. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the apprenticeship programmes on which the State pays a training allowance; the number of apprentices that receive this payment; and the amount it costs the State per annum. [26756/17]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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447. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the cost per apprentice per annum is due to fall as a result of the State no longer paying a training allowance to apprentices in programmes after 2016; and if so, the amount of the revised estimated cost per apprentice per annum. [26757/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 446 and 447 together.

The information sought by the Deputy in relation to the apprenticeship programmes that receive a training allowance is set out in the following table. The payment of allowances will continue to be paid to apprentices who undertake one of the existing craft trades.  A list of those trades is attached.  There are no plans to remove this allowance but no allowances are being paid for any of the new apprenticeships in operation or being developed.

The amount of the training allowance is determined by a number of variables including which of the 5 families of trades the employer is designated to (construction, motor, electrical, engineering or print), which of the 3 off-the-job training phases the apprentice is undertaking and how long the apprentice has been registered.  SOLAS estimates that the cost of training allowances in 2016 to be €25.9m and is based on 5,849 apprentices undertaking their off-the job training phases in that year. As apprentice registrations continue to increase for the existing craft apprenticeships, additional funds will be required to fund training allowances over the coming years.

It is estimated that the cost of training an apprentice in one of the existing craft apprenticeships is approximately €6,700 per annum while the estimated cost of training an apprentice in one of the new apprenticeships is approximately €6,300 per annum.  This figure may be subject to further refinement as greater numbers of new apprenticeships come into operation.

Based on the targets set out in the Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship 2016-2020, it is estimated that the cost of apprenticeship provision in 2020 will rise over the coming years to approximately €200m. 

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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448. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 303 of 2 May 2017, if he will provide a breakdown of the figure of €6,500 per annum. [26758/17]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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450. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to parliamentary question numbers 303 of 2 May 2017 and 118 of 10 May 2017, the reason for the discrepancy in the figures of €6,500 and €6,700 provided regarding the cost of an apprentice per annum. [26760/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 448 and 450 together.

It is estimated that the cost of training an apprentice in one of the existing craft apprenticeships is approximately €6,700 per annum while the estimated cost of training an apprentice in one of the new apprenticeships is approximately €6,300 per annum. 

The figure of €6,500 per annum quoted in question 303 of the 2 May is an average of both these figures. This figure may be subject to further refinement as greater numbers of new apprenticeships come into operation.