Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Hepburn Excerpts

Monday 29th October 2012 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Mr Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) (Lab)]

1. What steps he is taking to increase the quality and availability of apprenticeships for 16 to 18 year-olds.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills (Matthew Hancock)]

There is growing consensus that, alongside the overall increase in apprenticeships under this Government, we must enhance their quality and make them more employer-focused. I pay tribute to my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), who ensured that an apprenticeship normally lasts longer than a year, and is a real job. To enhance availability, we are simplifying apprenticeships, and the National Apprenticeship Service will in future focus more of its resources on engaging with employers.

[Mr Hepburn]

Is it not a fact that a lot of those apprenticeships are nothing but a scam? They allow employers to change the name on a job, call them apprenticeships and dodge paying the minimum wage. What is the value of an apprenticeship making sandwiches or packing shelves in a card shop?

[Matthew Hancock]

I am a great supporter of apprenticeships across the economy. As the economy has changed over the past few decades, apprenticeships are in the service sector and insurance as well as in engineering and high-value areas. I am sure the hon. Gentleman, like me, is looking forward to the review by Doug Richard into the future of apprenticeships, because we must ensure that quality is at the heart of the apprenticeship offer.