27 February 2009
By David Williams
Ministers have outlined plans for public sector employers to provide 21,000 new apprenticeships as part of a package they claim will lead to the ‘transformation’ of on-the-job training.
The announcement, made on February 23, coincided with the second reading of the government’s apprenticeships and skills Bill, which aims to raise the status and availability of such schemes.
The proposals allocate: 5,000 new posts in the NHS and social care; 7,500 in local government; 4,500 in schools and children’s services; 1,000 civilian apprenticeships with the Ministry of Defence; 2,500 in further education; and more than 600 in Whitehall.
The apprenticeships would be in areas ranging from dental nursing and childcare to business administration, catering, vehicle maintenance and ICT support.
The government hopes the initiative will close the gap in the training provided by both the public and private sectors. At present, the public sector employs one in five workers but contributes fewer than one in ten apprenticeships.
The government has also announced that all Building Schools for the Future projects will be required to take on apprentices, estimating this will add a further 1,000 places in the construction industry.
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill includes entitlement of all suitably qualified young people to an apprenticeship.
It also proposes that schools be obliged to provide information and guidance on apprenticeships as part of careers lessons, and that advanced apprenticeships be recognised under the Ucas higher education admission points system.
The number of people starting apprenticeships has almost quadrupled in a decade, from 65,000 in 1996/97 to 250,000. But the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has claimed that bureaucracy discourages employers from getting involved.
The government has set a target of one in five young people starting apprenticeships by 2020.
The Bill was broadly welcomed by the Commons innovation, universities, science and skills select committee. But Michael Gove, the shadow children’s secretary, said the number of people on more advanced level two and three apprenticeships was falling. He argued that the numbers taking part in new BSF-based schemes would not make up the shortfall.
Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, said the apprenticeships offered councils an opportunity to address inequality by broadening their intake.
‘All publicly funded projects should carry that kind of provision,’ he said. ‘If you don’t develop skills, the recovery from the recession is going to be more difficult.’
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