Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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300. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €37 million allocated to the national training fund for the higher education provision of relevance to employers as outlined in budget 2018; the amount of the allocation that has been spent from the national training fund; the way in which the funds were spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24308/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The purpose of the National Training Fund (NTF) Higher Education provision is to provide skills-related recurrent funding in support of higher-education programmes that are specifically oriented towards meeting labour market needs in identified skills areas.

The HEA provides core grant and “Free Fees” funding to the seven Universities, fourteen Institutes of Technology and three specialist colleges (National College Art and Design, Mary Immaculate College, ST Angela’s College). This funding contributes to education costs for students in these institutions. The NTF funding is allocated through the HEA funding allocation processes, and contributes towards both grant and ‘Free Fees’ costs for students participating on programmes in three identified skills-shortage areas, medical diagnostic and treatment technology; tourism and food including hotel restaurants and catering; and Languages.

In 2018, the approximate breakdown of the NTF recurrent funding and the student numbers being supported is as follows:

The breakdown is informed by, and extracted from, the total student numbers returned by institutions to the HEA via the Student Records System (SRS).

For 2018, a drawdown profile has been agreed as follows, with €13m having been allocated and paid to Higher Education Institutions as at end May 2018.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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301. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €38 million allocated to apprenticeships and traineeships as outlined in budget 2018; the amount of the allocation that has been spent; the number of apprenticeship and traineeship positions that have been created and filled; the way in which the funds were spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24309/18]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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302. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €19 million allocated to the national training fund for the funding of apprenticeships and skills as outlined in budget 2018; the amount of the allocation that has been spent from the National Training Fund; the way in which the funds were spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24310/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Budget 2018 saw an additional €38m allocated to apprenticeship and traineeship which represents an increase of over 30% on the 2017 allocation. This increased allocation will support 6,200 apprenticeship registrations and up to 3,900 traineeship enrolments during the year. There was also €19 million of apprenticeship expenditure resourced from the Exchequer in 2017 that was transferred to the National Training Fund in 2018.

There were 438 traineeship enrolments for quarter one 2018. Information on expenditure to date in 2018 on traineeships has not yet been collated by SOLAS from the 16 Education and Training Boards.

The information requested by the deputy on apprenticeship registrations and total expenditure on craft and consortia led apprenticeships to date in 2018 is set out in the following table.