James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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185. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will detail progress on Budget 2022 apprenticeship commitments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25274/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship more accessible to employers and learners, to achieve a target of 10,000 annual registrations across a wide range of programmes by 2025. Expansion to date has widened the impact of apprenticeship to areas of skills shortage such as engineering, technology skills, logistics and fintech.

We are building on this existing progress to advance towards the overall goal, as set out in the Action Plan of creating a single unified apprenticeship system that presents a valued proposition for apprentices and employers alike.

Development of new apprenticeship programmes has continued despite the pandemic challenges, There are currently 65 apprenticeship programmes on offer: 25 craft programmes and 40 programmes introduced since 2016. Eight new programmes were launched over 2020 and 2021; Arboriculture, Equipment Systems Engineer, Healthcare Assistant, Principal Engineer – Professional Doctorate, Recruitment Executive, Sales, Scaffolding , Supply Chain Associate.

A Bar Manager Apprenticeship was launched at the beginning of March 2022 along with a Wind Turbine Maintenance apprenticeship. Most recently, an apprenticeship in Transport Operations & Commercial Driving has been launched. Programme development has been approved for progression for a further range of programmes in areas such as farming, horticulture, finance, manufacturing, construction, cybersecurity and ICT, and a number of others at the initial proposal stage.

A total of €34 million was provided in Budget 2022 to expand apprenticeship, including the development of new programmes noted above. The funding was also allocated to address the Covid-related backlogs on off-the-job training placements for craft apprentices, to establish the National Apprenticeship Office which will operationalise the new system.

The new National Apprenticeship Office will deliver additional practical supports and information for employers and apprentices seeking to engage with apprenticeship and its first Director has been appointed. The staffing structure of the office and budget for 2022 have been agreed and early achievements include overseeing the introduction the new €2000 employer grant, the expansion of the gender based bursary and the establishment of the National Apprenticeship Alliance (NAA).

The introduction of an annual employer grant is a significant deliverable under the Action Plan. This new measure is funded in Budget 2022 and will see annual payments to employers of €2,000 per apprentice per annum for those apprenticeships that are not eligible for the payment of off-the-job training allowances. Its introduction means that, for the first time, employers of all apprentices will now have access to some level of financial support, either through direct payment of allowances to apprentices or through the employer grant. The grant came into effect from January 2022 with operational arrangements for the payment of the grant in 2022 planned for June and December each year.

On 14th April the Minister announced a new gender-based bursary for apprenticeship employers as part of the national Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025. The bursary, which is worth €2,666, is available to employers who employ apprentices in the minority gender on any national apprenticeship programme with greater than 80% representation of a single gender.

The National Apprenticeship Alliance held its first meeting in March 2022. The NAA will take on and build from the previous role of the Apprenticeship Council. This will help ensure for the future that the apprenticeship system is responsive to developments, can evolve, and all the while maintains the quality of apprenticeship training.

The 23 member Alliance is representative of apprenticeship stakeholders and brings together a wealth of knowledge and first-hand, practical experience from the worlds of education providers, learners, industry partners and trade unions.

A Working Group representing Government Departments and key agencies and public service bodies is advancing a commitment to have 750 public service-wide apprentice registrations per annum by 2025. The Group will develop a plan on public service recruitment by summer 2022, based on completed surveying of organisations in relation to their skills needs.

These actions and achievements to date provide a very strong foundation for continued progress this year towards the successful implementation of the Action Plan.