Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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722. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total estimated yearly cost to the Exchequer of abolishing apprenticeship registration fees, broken down by consortia-led and craft; the average cost per apprentice, broken down by craft and consortia-led apprentices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21116/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is no apprenticeship registration fee, for either employers or apprentices.

There is a very substantial allocation of resources to apprenticeships, drawing on the funding raised through the Employer Training Levy into the National Training Fund.

Calculating a cost-per-apprentice is a complex matter involving fixed costs, such as programme development costs, and variable costs per participating apprentice. The nature of specific apprenticeships is also an influencing factor. The different teaching methods and materials/resources required across programme will naturally vary and impact on programme costs.

In 2019, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform published a Spending Review of Apprenticeships. This estimated the average annual cost per apprentice in craft apprenticeships at €7,159 and €9,877 for consortia-led programmes.

However, as noted above, there are many variables across the 66 programmes and both figures are caveated by that factor.