Not enough apprenticeships to go round? New bill aims to have it sorted by 2013

Last updated 11:37, Tuesday, 21 October 2008

New legislation is going through parliament to radically overhaul how apprenticeships will operate in England.

The Draft Apprenticeship Bill is designed to establish a legal basis for apprenticeship programmes and set out the relationship between different parts of the apprenticeship system, which can be confusing for would-be apprentices and employers alike.

The aim is to significantly increase the number of young people taking up apprenticeships. The bill also seeks to redefine the “blue print” of an apprenticeship programme, setting out a consistent structure of what an apprentice should learn, tailored to the industry they work in.

The Government target is to double the number of young people in apprenticeships by 2013 which would see one in five young people taking up an apprenticeship.

The bill has its origins in World-class Apprenticeships: Unlocking talent, Building Skills for All, published in January 2008. The review was given the task of assessing the current apprenticeship programme and whether it was fit for purpose to meet two objectives – raising the number of apprentices and ensuring there are enough apprenticeship places.

The review looked at the barriers to young people taking up an apprenticeship. The most significant is that there are not enough employer places to meet the demand from young people. Time after time there are reports of hundreds of applications for a handful of vacancies with an employer.

Other barriers identified included:

inadequate or inaccurate advice and guidance to apprentices;

complicated delivery system;

serious equality and diversity issues and

marked variability of quality in training provision and framework content.

The bill is ambitious but welcome if it can address all these barriers. There are some aspects which may prove more problematic than others; for example, the lack of available apprenticeship places with an employer.

The bill proposes that the Learning and Skills Council be given the responsibility of ensuring there are enough places and variety of apprenticeships for those seeking them. Is this a task too far when the single greatest barrier is the availability of places with employers?

But then you have to read the ‘small print’ in other related documents that include actions to help and encourage employers. There is to be a new National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to provide co-ordination and there is also the suggestion of a targeted wage subsidy for employers who face difficulties in recruiting 16 to 18 year olds.

This is likely to apply to small businesses which are reluctant to take on an untried youngster straight from school and pay the minimum wage of £80 per week. The new online matching service for apprenticeship places will remove some advertising and recruitment costs for businesses.

One proposal I particularly like is mentor funding for apprentices who are atypical in their work places. This would allow funding for someone to spend time supporting the apprentice to integrate into the work place. I see this as particularly beneficial for young people from ethnic minorities or where gender may be an issue eg girls into construction or boys into care sectors.

However these extra interventions are packaged they will have to be attractive to employers if they are to work.

Careers education could also prove a problematic aspect of the bill. Existing legislation on providing careers education in schools is to be amended.

The amendment will require the governing body and headteacher of a secondary school to ensure that any careers advice provision that would be in the best interests of their pupils also includes advice on apprenticeships.

The biggest barrier may well be one that was not apparent in January when the original strategy was formulated and that is the economic crisis we are now dealing with.

At this point in time apprenticeships are jobs, with wages to be paid.

As ever, skills training which is entirely bound up with employers will be at the mercy of those employers when times are tough.