Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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345. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons enrolled in State funded traineeships; the number of traineeships projected to be in operation by employment sector and subsector, in each of the years 2017 to 2020 in tabular form; the budget allocation in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 for State funded traineeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46163/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The number of participants enrolled in State funded traineeships as of the end of October 2017 is 2,659 which is ahead of the 2017 target set for the year of 2,600.

The Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020 sets out a series of detailed actions and annual targets setting out how the expansion commitments in the area set out in the Action Plan for Education will be met.  Over the lifetime of the plan we will see 19,000 people enrolled on traineeship programmes. The number of traineeship programmes is targeted to grow from 24 in 2016 to 54 in 2020 and enrolments are targeted to grow to 5,000 per annum by 2020. Given the welcome improvement in the employment situation, work is also underway on extending the eligibility criteria for traineeship programmes beyond those who are unemployed to include other groups of people, such as those currently in employment, people returning to the workforce after caring responsibilities and others. Programmes will be developed to complement long standing traineeships and newer traineeships developed in areas such as hospitality, engineering, animation and post production and digital sales and marketing.

Later this month, I will open an event which will be targeted at employers and will promote traineeship as a means to meet skill needs.  SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards will outline the benefits to employers of traineeship programmes and set out how employers can engage with traineeship programmes currently on offer. Information will also be given on how providers can work with employers to develop new traineeship programmes to meet their specific skills needs. 

The information request by the Deputy in relation to allocations for traineeships is set out in the table below.

SOLAS allocation 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 for traineeships