Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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530. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he continues to put in place provisions to ensure sufficient apprentices to fill ongoing and future vacancies at all levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6748/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Apprenticeships are employer led demand driven educational and training programmes, which aim to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. As apprentices are employees, the demand for and number of apprentices is primarily dictated by the employers in any area or sector.

The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021 – 2025 requires that apprenticeship intake will grow to 10,000 annual registrations by 2025.

Apprenticeship registrations in 2021 were the highest they have been since 2007, with 8,607 apprentices employed on 62 programmes. The current apprentice population is over 24,000, the highest it has been since 2009. Of last year’s registrations, 6,955 were in craft apprenticeship programmes, with over 60% of these in the Electrical, Plumbing and Carpentry and Joinery crafts.

2022 will see an increase in off-the-job training places being made available across craft apprenticeship phases 2, 4 and 6.

This additional capacity began to come on-stream from September 2021 and is being delivered under a three-step response plan agreed by SOLAS, HEA and education and training providers. The immediate focus is on the three craft apprenticeships with the longest waiting lists, namely Electrical, Plumbing and Carpentry & Joinery.

For Phase 2, which is delivered in ETBs, a focused, time-limited response has increased the number of intakes per year from two to three. Planning is also underway for further expansion of workshops to facilitate additional classes in 2022. Phase 2 off-the-job training capacity is expected to increase to 5,390 places in 2022. Phase 4 and 6 training is delivered in Institutes of Technology and Technological Universities. In the region of 8,800 off-the-job training places will be provided across phases 4 and 6 in 2022, growing to over 9,000 off-the-job training places the following year.