Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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67. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 to promote access in apprenticeship for traditionally under-represented groups including women, migrants, those with disabilities and mature applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58626/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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One of the five overarching objectives of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 is "Apprenticeship for All" by ensuring that the profile of the apprenticeship population will more closely reflect the profile of the general population.

The Action Plan contains a number of key deliverable designed to secure significantly greater diversity by:-

- including the voice of under-represented cohorts in apprenticeship;

- putting in place an inclusive apprenticeship access and delivery structure; and

- through monitoring and assessing targets and developing appropriate interventions.

A set of initial actions set out in the Plan is already underway to build on the outcomes of the 2018 Review of Pathways to Participation in Apprenticeship.

Specific current actions include:-

- All apprentice jobs are advertised on www.apprenticejobs.ie, with information on apprenticeship now accessible from the CAO website. A dedicated apprentice guidance line has been established to support this initial period of increased visibility of apprenticeship to school leavers.

- Extending the female craft apprentice employer bursary to all apprenticeship programmes with greater than 80% representation of a single gender. The bursary will be established from January 2022 and details of this scheme will be released in the near future.

- Progress on labelling access to apprenticeship programmes and pre-apprenticeship courses and increased clarity on progress routes is expected to be delivered in the near future.

The increase in apprenticeship registrations in 2021, exceeding expectations of a recovery from Covid-19 impacted 2020 but also showing a 25% increase on 2019 figures for the same period demonstrates the attractiveness of apprenticeships. The recent inclusion of apprenticeship information on the CAO website will further help to increase awareness of and access to apprenticeship for a new cohort of learners.

I am satisfied that the suite of initiatives included in the Apprenticeship Action Plan will provide strong momentum to boosting the presence of currently under-represented groups in our apprenticeship population.