Apprentices: Construction

(asked on 13th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the reduction in the number of apprentice places in the construction industry.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 21st July 2020

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and in supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce that they need to recover and grow following the COVID-19 outbreak.

We recognise that employers, at the moment, face increased challenges with hiring new apprentices and so we will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year.

Employers are at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships, designing high-quality standards that deliver the skills that they need, and allowing them to spend the levy on the apprenticeships training that matters for them. Employers in the construction sector have developed 86 standards which are approved for delivery. These include Groundworker at level 2 and Building Services Design Technician at level 3. A further 12 are in development.

The construction industry will be key in supporting the country’s economic recovery and my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, recently announced a £5 billion Capital Investment Plan to accelerate infrastructure projects aimed at stimulating the sector and help to recruit and retain staff including apprentices.

We are working with construction sector to encourage the take up of apprenticeships to ensure businesses can restart and recover as quickly as possible.

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