Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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603. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the importance of apprenticeships in society moving forward; the steps that his Department is taking to increase staffing levels in areas that have seen a reduction in apprentices since Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44956/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The importance of apprenticeships in society, both now and into the future, has never been more apparent than it is today. 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. Expansion to date has widened the impact of apprenticeship to areas of skills shortage such as engineering, technology skills, logistics, and fintech.

Apprenticeship has undergone transformation over the past 6 years. There is a clear need to broaden the awareness of apprenticeship as a work-based route to internationally recognised qualifications and experience for people progressing in their career, school leavers, and career changers. Growing that message is a key feature of planning for apprenticeship in the coming years.

The simple fact is that apprenticeship only exists in areas where there is a demand for skills. They are not approved otherwise. However apprentice jobs can only exist where employers provide those jobs – and the Action Plan for Apprenticeshipsets out to support employers to engage with apprenticeship as a key mechanism for building a highly skilled workforce. People learn in different ways and we want to make sure that everyone is aware apprenticeship can be for them as a route to a qualification into the future.

The actions set out in the plan will deliver clarity for school-leavers, jobseekers, and career changers on the wide range of available apprenticeships. Furthermore, it will put a structure in place to ensure that the apprentice population will more closely reflect the general population – through targeted supports for under-represented groups and making sure that there is ongoing representation from those groups to advise on specific actions into the future.

Empowering people from under-represented and marginalised sections of society to take their rightful place in the system is vital to the success of apprenticeship. Apprenticeship can provide them with a clear route to not only a job, but to a valued qualification and a clear career path, instilling hope and direction that may not otherwise have been readily apparent.

Funding has been secured in Budget 2023 to expand the Access to Apprenticeship (ATA) initiative beyond its current two locations and an apprentice bursary/support scheme will be established to fund up to 100 apprentices per year who are experiencing severe socioeconomic disadvantage and who are from target groups, including lone parents, people with disabilities, Travellers and Roma.

Both measures will be advanced through the Equity of Access sub-committee of the National Apprenticeship Alliance.

Government will also ensure that the public sector plays its part by delivering high quality public sector employment and training opportunities, underpinning the ongoing reform of our public service.

The workplace is changing and the response to Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation, changing the nature and capabilities required for occupations. Certain sectors were greatly affected, particularly aviation and hospitality and may take a long time to recover to anywhere near normal levels. Other sectors including construction and the green economy are forecast to recover more quickly and expand. A significant number of people will need to reskill to find alternative employment and to prepare for the new employment opportunities that will emerge – apprenticeship provides a rapid route to gaining those skills.

The ‘Action Plan for Apprenticeship’has been live for over one year now and already I can report to you that as a result of a €34 million investment under Budget 2022 targeting the expansion of apprenticeship, including the development of new programmes and addressing the Covid-related backlogs, tangible progress has already been made.

For example, eight new apprenticeship programmes were launched over 2020 and 2021, despite the pandemic –

- Arboriculture,

- Equipment Systems Engineer,

- Healthcare Assistant,

- Principal Engineer – Professional Doctorate,

- Recruitment Executive,

- Sales,

- Scaffolding,

- Supply Chain Associate.

In 2022 more were added –

- Bar Manager,

- Wind Turbine Maintenance and

- Transport Operations & Commercial Driving.

- Cybersecurity

This brings the total number of available programmes to 66 and will help address areas of severe skills shortage. Programme development has been approved for progression in areas such as

- farming,

- horticulture,

- engineering

- finance,

- manufacturing,

- construction,

- ICT, and a number of others at the initial proposal stage.

An additional €30 million investment has been secured under Budget 2023. This funding will provide for an additional estimated:-

- 4,000 additional places on craft apprenticeship training;

- 500 additional places on consortia—led programmes;

- The payment of allowances to all craft apprentices while on off-the-job training phases, including the additional 4,000 apprentices.

Significant financial supports have also been introduced this year under the Action Plan:

- The annual Employer Grant of €2,000 per apprentice means that, for the first time, employers of all apprentices now have access to financial support, either through direct payment of allowances to apprentices or through the grant. This will help to promote engagement with the non-craft programmes, including the development of new programmes.

- The gender-based bursary of €2,666 is available for those who employ apprentices in the minority gender on any national apprenticeship programme with greater than 80% representation of a single gender. It is an expansion of the ‘female bursary’ available to craft apprenticeship employers prior to 2022 and there are currently 41 programmes which meet the criterion.

Amendments to the Industrial Training Act, 1967, included in the recently passed Higher Education Authority Bill, 2022, will widen the scope for new apprenticeship programmes in an expanded range of sectors.

The increased diversity of new apprenticeships, many of which have off-the-job training delivered through online or blended learning provides a significant opportunity for widening of access to apprenticeship for rural businesses and learners. In addition, Education and Training Boards, Institutes of Technology and Technological Universities are spread throughout the country and play a very important role in ensuring apprenticeship provision has a strong regional dimension.

By 2025, regardless of the sector, apprenticeship will be a clear choice for people looking for a new career, qualification, or return to work option across all areas of the economy. We want apprenticeship to be at the heart of the conversation when employers are looking at ways to recruit staff. A minimum of 10,000 new apprentice jobs will be available every year – and will be filled by learners of all ages and experience, and at least 750 of those will be in the public sector.