Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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All apprenticeship programmes are undertaken under a contract of employment. For the majority of apprenticeships, the rate of pay is agreed between the apprentice and the employer, with the employer paying the apprentice during both on-the-job and off-the-job training elements.

For the 25 Craft Apprenticeship programmes, the minimum rates of pay are determined by the industry sector to which the employer belongs. They are not based on the specific skill or trade that the apprentice is undertaking. This ensures that all craft apprentices with a single employer are subject to a common set of gross wage norms.

Gross wage norms are either agreed within the relevant sector or are set out in legally binding Sectoral Employment Orders (SEOs) recommended by the Labour Court. Any review of those rates currently payable is a matter for negotiation and agreement under the appropriate industrial relations structures in place.

Under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 there is a commitment to consolidate the two systems of apprenticeship into a single system. This would see greater alignment of the development, review, governance and funding arrangements for all apprenticeship programmes. In this regard, work is progressing through the National Apprenticeship Alliance, which represents the broad range of stakeholders in the overall apprenticeship system. It is intended to bring a Memorandum to Government later this year setting out the pathway to achieving the single system.

I am confident that the partnership approach, upon which this will be based, will help ensure the successful delivery of this outcome.