Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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166. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average time it is currently taking apprenticeship students to complete their qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12337/21]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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167. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current wait times for each off-the-job training phase; if this in line with the period of time advised by SOLAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12338/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.

Craft apprenticeships represent 25 of the 59 available apprenticeship programmes and 85% of total apprentice registrations as at the end of 2020. Craft apprenticeships consist of seven phases of training, three of which are off-the-job and delivered by Education and Training Boards, Institutes of Technology and Technological Universities across the country.

Start and end dates for an apprenticeship are defined respectively by the date the apprentice is registered with SOLAS and when a Results Approval Panel confirms to SOLAS that an apprentice has successfully met the required standard by completion of all on and off the job elements of their apprenticeship. For craft apprentices, this process is generally completed by 208 weeks, while noting that this may not always be the case. For example there could be a delay in either the on or off the job elements for a variety of reasons.

The impacts of COVID-19 closures have had a significant impact on craft apprenticeship off the job training. When permissible, on-site practical training is operating at approximately 50% normal capacity to ensure adherence to public health guidance. The Government have allocated additional funding for 2021 to fund 2,000 apprenticeship places required to catch up on the lost provision in 2020 and to mitigate against the effect of smaller apprenticeship class sizes.

To date, SOLAS designed and implemented an alternative assessment strategy for approximately 2,100 craft apprentices in June 2020 to address immediate continuity of training and assessments issues at that time. Since January 11th training facilities have again been closed however theoretical training aspects of the craft apprenticeship courses have been delivered online for apprentices who are due to attend off-the-job training during this period. Intensive work is underway to agree a phased basis return to onsite training for apprentices who have had their training interrupted or who were close to assessment before the January shutdown. The onsite training and assessment is now time critical and apprenticeship stakeholders are working on this plan as a priority.

In addition to the urgent work on returning apprentices to onsite training, SOLAS and the HEA are exploring the development of additional training capacity across education and training providers with the objective of tackling the waiting lists and ensuring that apprentices complete their training as quickly as possible.