AQW 27868/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 12/01/2022
Answered On Date: 04/02/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy for an update on the fully funded, open to all, HGV scheme which was expected to be available at the end of 2021.

Answer:

The existing Level 2 Driving Goods Vehicles and Level 3 Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeship frameworks were to be included in the proposed extension of the ApprenticeshipsNI programme to all ages.

However, the inescapable resource pressures that my Department now faces as a result of the Draft Budget 2022-2025, which proposes real terms cuts to the Department’s baseline totalling £259 million across the three years, means that initiatives such as all age apprenticeships, which will require additional funding, cannot be progressed at this time.