Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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222. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 208 of 20 April 2023, if his Department will monitor the inclusion of social consideration in regards to apprenticeship in public procurement to ensure that the information note leads to the adoption of this practice; if he will consider bringing in mandatory inclusion of social consideration in regards to apprenticeship in construction projects over a certain size; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20076/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In 2021, my colleague, Simon Harris T.D., the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, published the Action Plan for Apprenticeships 2021-2025 with a suite of over 60 actions to drive the uptake of apprenticeships in the State. The Office of Government Procurement, an office in my Department, published the information note on Apprenticeships and Public Procurement on 18 April 2023 in line with Action 6.4 of the Action Plan to deliver guidance on the inclusion of an apprenticeship/staff development provision within Public Sector tendering processes. The note informs contracting authorities of the procedures to follow where they have decided to include an apprenticeship provision in their procurement.

The Action Plan states that a new National Apprenticeship Office (NAO) will be established with responsibility for all aspects of the management, oversight and development of the apprenticeship system in Ireland and for implementing the Action Plan for Apprenticeships including monitoring and assessing targets.

The inclusion of apprenticeship provisions and the monitoring of the impact of such provisions is primarily the responsibility of each individual contracting authority. For example, a requirement for a specified target percentage of workers on the site who are to be engaged in an approved registered apprenticeship, training or educational work placement scheme has been included in the PPP programme and certain education projects that are being delivered by the National Development Finance Agency (on behalf of several departments) for several years now.

Furthermore, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has been proactive in advising on the use of strategic procurement, including apprenticeships, by contracting authorities with the publication of an Information Note on Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement in 2018 followed by Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement. In addition, consideration is also being given to developing template contract clauses and guidance for contracting authorities to deploy in public works projects on a case by case basis where the scale and nature of the project lends itself to apprenticeship opportunities.