Apprentices

Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent representations he has received on the effects of levels of availability of apprenticeship places on the ability of students to complete courses of study; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Simon
Ministers and officials have received a number of representations about the problems training providers have experienced in finding work placements for apprentices to enable them to complete their apprenticeship framework. The construction industry is one sector where problems have been most acute and we have worked with employers, trade unions and sectoral bodies through the construction taskforce to identify measures to help providers, employers and apprentices. Most notably we have, together with ConstructionSkills established a matching service to help those apprentices in the construction sector at risk of redundancy to find alternative employment and to complete their apprenticeship. We are currently working with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to explore how this approach might be extended to other sectors.

We are also taking steps to encourage employers to continue to support training and apprenticeships through the £175 billion a year Government spend on procuring goods and services. Government have made a commitment to routinely consider skills issues and promote training opportunities through their procurements. In construction, Departments and Agencies have made a specific commitment to consider the case for including a requirement that a proportion of the project workforce is apprentices when letting new construction contracts. We are looking to build on this approach in other major areas of spend, including IT.

On 17 April, the Department published new guidance, jointly developed with the Office of Government Commerce, to support Departments and agencies in implementing these commitments.

The £140 million package announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in January for an additional 35,000 apprenticeship training places will help fund new provision in both the public and private sectors, and will extend the opportunities available to people facing redundancy. We have also developed some flexibilities to help apprentices who have been made redundant. Redundant apprentices can now continue their training with a provider for up to six months while they and their provider look for an alternative employer. The National Apprenticeship Service has provided revised guidance about access to EMA and hardship funds which is already available. If a redundant apprentice is close to completing their framework and has evidence of the relevant employer experience, we expect providers, Sector Skills Councils and awarding bodies to be considerate to their individual circumstances in order to support them in completing their course of study.

Mr. Dai Davies
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the final report of the UK Skills Commission’s inquiry into apprenticeships published in March 2009.

Mr. Simon
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools and Learners have welcomed the Skills Commission report on Apprenticeships at its launch on 18 March 2009.

We welcome this constructive contribution to the development of the Government’s Apprenticeship Programme in England, and the emphasis it places on the value of work-based learning. We expect to make a formal response to the recommendations set out in the report in June, which will allow us to take into account the responses to the consultation on the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England (SASE).