Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons who have completed an apprenticeship programme in each of the years 2014 to 2016 and to date in 2017; his plans for an apprenticeship degree programme as in the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44814/17]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

78. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of places that will be available on the ten new apprenticeship programmes announced in budget 2018; when they will commence; and his plans for an apprenticeship degree programme as in the UK. [44815/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The information sought be the Deputy in relation to the number of people who have completed their apprenticeship programme is set out in the attached table.  It should be noted that craft apprenticeships are four years in duration.  Therefore, the number of completers set out in the attached table reflect apprentices that commenced their programme four years earlier, at a time when registrations where much lower than they are currently. 

As the Deputy is aware, the Apprenticeship Council was established in 2014 to oversee the expansion of the apprenticeship system in Ireland. Since its first call for proposals the Council has been working with consortia to develop their proposals into sustainable apprenticeships that can be delivered on a nationwide basis. To date eleven new apprenticeships have been developed by the Council in various occupations such as accounting, finance and engineering. A number of these new programmes lead to an award on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) at degree level (levels 7 & 8) such as Insurance Practice (level 8), Electrical Engineering (level 7), Polymer Processing Technology (Level 7), Manufacturing Engineering (Level 7) and International Financial Services Specialist (level 8). Other programmes, arising from the first call, are at various stages of development and are expected to get underway later this year and during 2018, many of which lead to an award at level 7 and above on the NFQ.

Earlier this year we published the Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020 which sets out a series of detailed actions and annual targets on how we will achieve the expansion commitments in the area set out in the Action Plan for Education.A key commitment for this year set out in the Plan was the issuing of a second call for apprenticeship proposals to refresh the pipeline of proposals already established through the first call. The second call closed on the 1^stSeptember with 77 proposals received across arrange of sectors and occupations and at various levels on the NFQ.  The Apprenticeship Council is currently assessing proposals received and will make its recommendations to me in November.  I am confident that, as was the case with the first call, there will be a good spread of proposals recommended for development across all levels of the NFQ.

As set out in our Plan we have targeted a further ten new schemes for 2018 which will bring the total new apprenticeships to 25, almost doubling the number of apprenticeship schemes on offer in Ireland.  As the apprenticeship model is employer led, it is difficult to quantify, at this stage, how many places will be taken up in the ten new schemes scheduled for next year. However, the Action Plan targets 1,500 new registrations for 2018 across all of the new apprenticeships developed to date and introduced during the year.

Advanced Certificate Craft - Certs Issued by QQI 2014-2016 & 2017 ytd.

*figures above do not include completers on new Apprenticeships as the first of these only commenced in 2016.