Apprenticeships

Debate between Nigel Adams and Lord Wharton of Yarm

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey), and I shall try to keep the rhetoric to a minimum if I can. It is also a pleasure to speak in the debate.

Apprenticeships are the most ancient form of vocational training. In this country, they predate degrees and their formal existence dates from the middle ages. In places such as China, apprenticeships have been around for 1,000 years. Hon. Members will all be aware that Confucius explained why apprenticeships worked by saying, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”.

Last Friday evening, I had the good fortune to be invited to Selby abbey to present the annual Selby college awards. As the Minister will know, Selby college is an outstanding further education college in my constituency and I was thrilled to present awards to several apprentices who had excelled in their fields and who are now looking forward to embarking on their careers. The college plans rapidly to expand its apprenticeship scheme numbers in the forthcoming year, with ambitious plans to increase the programme by 300% by working closely with local and regional employers to help to train people with the skills they will need to join the working world. As well as making that commendable progress, the college is in touch with university partners to expand the range of degree programmes that students can take there.

Today, thousands of young people are benefiting from the excellent start to their working life that an apprenticeship can offer, but apprenticeships are open not only to the young. Hon. and right hon. Members might have seen reports in the media about current apprentices in their 60s and 70s, and a recent forecast published by the Government shows a large increase in the number of adult apprenticeships over the course of this Parliament. That offers hope for all of us who might be thrown out of this place in the future.

With Christmas spirit and a sense of fair play, I acknowledge that there is agreement on both sides of the House that apprenticeship training must be central to any Government’s approach to skills. I will go further and acknowledge that one of the achievements of the previous Administration was to bring about a significant expansion of the number of apprentices in training. I am delighted, however, that the coalition Government have taken apprenticeships to a new level, as cemented in the coalition agreement, which stated that the Government

“will seek ways to support the creation of apprenticeships, internships, work pairings, and college and workplace training places as part of our wider programme to get Britain working.”

This Conservative-led Government have more than fulfilled that promise and continue to do so with an extra 53,000 apprenticeship starts recorded during 2010-11.

We have seen a 54% increase in apprenticeship starts in 2010-11 compared with the figures for 2009-10, under the previous Government. Those figures could not be clearer. This has been a record year for apprenticeships, with the greatest proportional growth at level 3, the equivalent of A-level. The task now must surely be for the Government to continue to increase the number and range of apprenticeships on offer while, most importantly, improving their quality. I support the Government’s announcements on improving the quality of apprenticeships, particularly now that English and maths up to the standard of a good GCSE—level 2—will be available for all apprentices.

Madam Deputy Speaker, there is a great song—I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker. I had not realised that you had taken Madam Deputy Speaker’s place. There is a great song by an artist I have had the good fortune to have seen live, called Seasick Steve, which goes, “I started out with nothing and still have most of it left”. If we are to avoid that rather gloomy outcome, we must continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships.

In my constituency, Doosan Power Systems, a company that works in the energy sector, has had a successful apprenticeship programme in place for more than 40 years and employs 92 apprentices across the years between 16 and 18, with hopes of bringing in a further 62 next year. In Selby and Ainsty, we have seen an increase in apprenticeship numbers of 67% over the past year, from 510 to 850, and I hope that that figure continues to increase, with companies such as Doosan taking on more and more apprentices with the help and support of the Government.

[James Wharton (Stockton South) (Con)]

May I take this opportunity to observe that in the north-east we have seen a rise from 535 to 860 engineering apprenticeships in the past year? Is it not the case that the sort of apprenticeships my hon. Friend is talking about and which the Minister is doing so much to deliver will provide the jobs and growth for the future that we so desperately need in our region?

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. It is important that we have quality apprenticeships to ensure that they lead to proper jobs. I commend my hon. Friend; I am sure his input has gone a long way towards insuring that increase in apprenticeship numbers over the past year.

Further support can be offered through an increase in the funding support for apprentice work placements to cover non-productive employer costs such as travel, accommodation and supervision. I have spoken to employers in my constituency and found that another area where it is widely felt that greater Government support is necessary—I put this to the Minister—is in the current 50% reduction in funding for apprentices over the age of 18, an issue raised earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland). Many firms and establishments do not allow workers under the age of 18 to enter their sites owing to the perceived high-risk nature of the work, which in turn limits the age of apprentices that companies will take on. If the age were raised to 19 before the drop in funding, it would encourage more employers to take on younger apprentices without the risk of not being able to utilise their skills fully on site.

An advanced economy needs people with advanced skills in order to grow, and we need to use all our talents. I am assured that this Government are committed to driving up the skill levels of the work force. Apprenticeships already make a tremendous contribution to society, but this Government intend and need to go further. The Government should ensure that apprenticeships are improved and expanded so that more individuals and businesses can benefit from the opportunities that they offer.