Apprenticeships

Lord Flight Excerpts

Wednesday 4th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

The latest Apprenticeships Evaluation survey found that nine in 10 of recent completers of apprenticeships were either in part-time or full-time employment after finishing their apprenticeships, so we are seeing people getting into the labour force. The reason that I love apprenticeships is that they give a portfolio or skillset which you can take elsewhere. That allows people the opportunity to move around. The whole point about the changes in apprenticeships is to make the employers lead. If they decide what is needed, it ensures that people stay in the workforce—and often with the employers that they first started with.

[Lord Flight (Con)]

May I draw the Minister’s attention to the contribution made by the Baker-Dearing university technical colleges? They are teaching both vocational skills and standard O-levels and A-levels. This enables the people attending and coming out of them to do much higher-quality apprenticeships, in the spirit of the noble Lord’s Question.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My noble friend is completely right. These colleges are extremely useful. Of course we need to upskill and uptool for the changing economy that we have.