Ann McKechin
Main Page: Ann McKechin (Labour - Glasgow North)Department Debates - View all Ann McKechin's debates with the Department for Education
(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Matthew Hancock
I hope that they will. I welcome my hon. Friend as the apprenticeship ambassador in Parliament, as was announced today. His role is to ensure that we expand apprenticeships, listening to both parliamentarians and businesses as we take these reforms forward.
Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)
The Minister will be aware of the stark gender segregation in STEM apprenticeships. Will he tell us what steps he is going to take to achieve an increase?
Matthew Hancock
Yes, we have specific pilots to deal with this issue. The employer ownership pilot involves a consortium led by Rolls-Royce, BAE and others and it is aimed at increasing the number of women engaged in engineering. The best argument in favour comes from apprentices themselves. The apprentice of the year is a female engineer who works on the Typhoon Eurofighter. She is an inspiration, and it is the arguments that she puts—better than me—that will help to encourage girls and young women to look to engineering as an exciting career prospect.