19542 (2025). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Vocational Education

19542 (2025). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Vocational Education: Further to the Ministers reply to Written Parliamentary Question 18190, has the number of individuals training in apprenticeships been trending upwards or downwards over the past two years?

Hon Penny Simmonds: I refer the member to the information below that shows the number of learners enrolled in an apprenticeship program has decreased between 2022 and 2024. Reporting year Number of apprentices Year-on-year percentage change 2022 81,925 - 2023 73,085 -10.8% 2024 64, 480 -11.8% Caveats: • Data extracted as of 14 April 2024 for the reporting year 2024 and has been sourced through administrative data held by the TEC. 2024 data is interim therefore subject to change as data is updated. • A work-based learner will be counted if they are active in an apprenticeship programme for at least one month in the reporting year. Learners in a provider-based apprenticeship programme are counted where the learner is reported as a ‘Managed Apprentice’ in the reporting year. • The number of apprentices in this information request has been rounded to the nearest five. • This data has been compiled specifically to respond to this question. It uses administrative data collected by the Tertiary Education Commission for the purposes of funding tertiary education and relies on the accuracy of data reported by TEOs. Care should be taken when making comparisons with data collected or compiled for other purposes.