Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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904.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will take the necessary steps to ensure that those undertaking apprenticeships at this time do not experience lengthy delays in their qualification process (details supplied). [24992/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The time it takes to complete a craft apprenticeship is 48 months or 4 years. The average apprenticeship completion time is based on progression through off-the-job training phases with training capacity and does not reflect delays due to deferring training, assessment delays or other individual circumstances.

Currently, out of 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, four are on average completing Phase 6 training in over 48 months, with two completing significantly over the 48 months average. These are Electrical Instrumentation at 59 months, Pipefitting at 58 months, Instrumentation at 51 months and Farriery at 51 months.

Investment into apprenticeship capacity is a priority for me and my department. During Estimates 2024, €67 million was allocated to grow the apprenticeship system. €30 million was reallocated on a temporary basis from wider Further Education and Training (FET) budgets, bringing total funding in 2024 to approximately €298 million, up from approximately €272 million in 2023.Capital funding has also been provided to increase craft capacity. In the immediate pandemic period, €12m was allocated to support additional classes and teaching capacity to ameliorate Covid-19 measures and €6m was invested to provide additional instructor posts.

Further sums of €20m (in 2021), €17.2m (in 2022) and €17m (in 2023) in capital expenditure were allocated to SOLAS and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to facilitate additional craft apprenticeship places.

A plan was developed in July 2023 to significantly reduce craft training delays by SOLAS/the National Apprenticeship Office (NAO) and agreed with then Minister Simon Harris in November 2023. The plan aims to increase craft delivery capacity significantly in 2024.

Since the implementation of the plan, there has been a sustained reduction in the number of apprentices waiting longer than 6 months at Phase 2 for their off-the-job training, which has decreased from 6,166 in July 2023 to 3,071 in May 2024.

As part of the plan, the NAO has put a renewed focus on speeding up delivery of 2 of the 25 craft programmes - Electrical Instrumentation at 59 months and Pipefitting at 58 months.

Significant resources are being invested to further increase the capacity of the apprenticeship training system.

Education and Training Boards (ETBs) have been mandated by SOLAS to commence three apprenticeship intakes per workshop per year to support the delivery of the NAO plan.

Additionally, a recruitment campaign to engage craft instructors was launched by SOLAS and the NAO from November 2023, involving national advertising and recruiting. Its aim is to support delivery and increased capacity at Phase 2 in further education.

The NAO allocated €149,000 to a recruitment advertising budget, which was focused on social media, radio and digital audio and video.

To date, 134 instructor posts have been sanctioned by the Department, of which 77 have been advertised, and 58 posts have been filled. Additionally, 80+ instructor posts were converted from fixed term to permanent. Further posts will be advertised as capital projects come on stream across the rest of 2024 and into Quarter 1 2025.

As a direct result of these actions, apprenticeship delivery capacity in ETBs has grown substantially from 5,613 in 2023 to 7,545 in April 2024, a 34% increase.

It is my priority to maintain momentum, continue growing the apprenticeship system and ensure that there are enough training places for current and future skills needs.