Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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455. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the list of traditional apprenticeships and new apprenticeships, respectively which are now available for participation; and the number of places on each for participation. [27558/21]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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456. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the areas in which further new apprenticeships are in development; and the planned number of places on each. [27559/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 455 and 456 together.

There are currently 60 apprenticeships available with a further 18 programmes in development. Apprenticeship is demand-led. For craft apprenticeship, the number of places is determined by employers, with off-the-job training provided to all registered apprentices. Apprenticeships established since 2016 have one or more intakes per annum with the take-up determined by employer engagement and available apprentice jobs.

A list of current apprenticeships is attached in Table 1, including registration figures for 2020 and the latest figures available to end of April 2021. Table 2 shows the 18 apprenticeships in development and the estimated initial apprentice registrations.

SSHA

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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457. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the approach he plans to take to develop a central hub in which applicants for apprenticeships and employers in the relevant sectors could be matched off; and the way in which he plans to attract employers to use such a hub that might have used less formal routes of recruitment before. [27560/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The Apprenticeship Jobs Portal (www.apprenticeshipjobs.ie) was launched in April 2019 to enhance the visibility and accessibility of apprentice job vacancies, and to assist small companies to advertise apprentice vacancies to a wide audience. Although not a matching system the platform is building traction month-on-month, with over 1,200 employers now registered on the site and over 250 job vacancies posted since its launch. Work is continuing to bring all apprentice employers on-board the system.

Under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2012-2025, all apprentice vacancies will be advertised on or linked from the site by the end of 2021. Additional financial and non-financial supports including sector or programme specific recruitment supports for employers and in particular SMEs, will be rolled out during the lifetime of the plan to increase employer engagement and visibility of apprenticeship to applicants. Further enhancements will be considered by the new National Apprenticeship Office over the lifetime of the plan.

Learners of all ages can currently access information and link through to relevant study and education options from www.gov.ie/therightcourse. Work has also commenced towards simplifying student application procedures across the tertiary education sector (further and higher education) with initial engagement underway between this Department, the CAO and SOLAS on how application processes could be presented to learners in an easily accessible manner.