Education and Skills Bill

On these Benches we have a great deal of sympathy for these amendments. As I mentioned on the previous set of amendments, in many senses apprenticeships are the most satisfactory route for young people who have a more practical bent and wish to learn by doing. At present there are far too few apprenticeships and considerable excess demand. The Government are coming forward with new proposals, which will be contained in the Bill that we will see next year. They are setting up a national apprenticeship service. I am not sure how far the Government are moving in this direction but if we are to see an expansion of apprenticeship places there has to be, first, some subsidising of apprenticeships, particularly for small and medium-sized companies. At the moment there is a degree of confusion because, through the train to gain programme, companies can receive funding for putting their employees through NVQ level 2 qualifications and yet, by contrast, they have to pay apprentices an apprentice wage and have to make a contribution towards their training costs. On the evidence we have received from the CBI and the Institute of Directors, both large and small companies find that there is excessive red tape surrounding apprenticeships. The CBI noted that 81 per cent of large companies, which have the capability to handle these matters, find that there is excessive red tape and a lack of suitable candidates for their apprenticeships. I am aware that the introduction of functional maths, functional English and functional ICT may help in providing more suitable candidates. There is not a clear route at the moment between diplomas and apprenticeships. It is not clear whether young people from the age of 14, if they opt for one of the diploma routes, will have preferential consideration for going into apprenticeships. This needs to be clarified, both for the employers and for the young people. We do not necessarily want a dedicated route in this development. However, because many small and medium-sized companies find not only that there is an excessive amount of red tape but that apprentices are rather expensive to cope with, the notion of some sort of subsidy is appropriate. Perhaps the Government will consider introducing in the Bill that they are going to bring forward the notion that all companies that have public sector contracts should be required to take on apprentices and to declare how many apprentices they are training. I know that that proposal is not appropriate for this Bill, but I hope the Government will consider putting it in the next Bill. We have a great deal of sympathy for Amendments Nos. 18 and 21 but, as we said on a previous occasion, we will have to wait and see how the diplomas work. The apprenticeship route is important but at the moment we have no idea whether we will be able to ensure the supply of apprenticeships that we are promised. I assume that the requirement will transfer from the LSC to the local authorities. On Amendments Nos. 54 and 55, again the sufficiency and diversity of local authority provision is an important issue. We have raised it in Amendments Nos. 59 and 61A and we shall discuss it subsequently. I do not want to say more than that at the moment but it is an issue that we are concerned about.