There are a number of proposals in 'World-class Apprenticeships' aimed at supporting and encouraging small and medium-sized business to take on apprentices.
These included the recently launched sector growth pilots. These pilots are designed to trial a range of support including wage and training subsidies and while this is not exclusively for small businesses, they will be encouraged to bid for this funding. We are also developing proposals set out in World Class Apprenticeships to support SMEs to form their own group training associations to support the delivery of apprenticeships.
We are committed to revising the current apprenticeship blueprint and to support Sector Skills Councils to develop Apprenticeship frameworks to be more flexible and responsive. This includes work with employers to encourage and enable them to submit their own frameworks for funding, by drawing from a Sector Skills Council 'bank' of qualifications.
We are also working with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, who recently surveyed SMEs to establish how the new National Apprenticeship Service can meet better the needs of employers. The survey focused on, although was not limited to, reducing the administrative burden on them. Together we will consider how best to take forward the recommendations coming out of the survey.