Apprenticeships and Skills (Public Procurement Contracts) Bill

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Jacob Rees-Mogg

Friday 1st November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Gwynne]

And of course it says “certain public procurement contracts”, not all public procurement contracts, and it will be for the public body to determine whether it requires them. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the body of the Bill, he will see that it says “may”. I hope that clarifies his point.

We clearly have much more to do to transform educational opportunities and our culture for the forgotten 50% of young people nationally and the 68% in my area who do not get the chance to go to university. An important way of doing this is to offer quality apprenticeships that give a real and sustained route to a good career and to make the best use of public procurement contracts to help to achieve this.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con)]

I think what the hon. Gentleman is trying to do is thoroughly worthwhile, but I wonder whether it would be allowed under EU contract procurement rules.

[Andrew Gwynne]

The simple answer is yes, and when we get to that part of my contribution I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be won over to my argument. Actually, it is already happening in many local and central Government Departments, but there is a lot more we could do, which is why I hope he will support my Bill today.

Apprenticeships provide us with inspirational ways of realising our ambitions and enabling us to break the current cycle. One good example is the 50/50 scheme set up by my own Labour-controlled Tameside council, which awards up to 50 apprenticeship grants of £1,000 to employers who take on a 16, 17 or 18-year-old Tameside resident. Over the past few years Tameside council, working closely with the Connexions service, has gradually reduced the number of young people in my constituency who are not engaged in employment, education or training. Some of those young people want to learn while they are in work, and the initiative is intended to ensure that they have the opportunity to do so. Schemes such as 50/50 recognise the particular problems faced by young people in the current economic climate, and support them. They are training a new generation for economic recovery in places such as Denton and Reddish.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Gwynne]

My hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. I am confident that by the end of my speech and those of other Labour Members, the sceptics sitting opposite me will be won over to the cause of young people in their constituencies, which is equal to that of young people in Newham, Tameside, Salford, Hull, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Scunthorpe and Scotland.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg]

I am delighted to hear about all this rejoicing in Scotland. As I am being won over by the hon. Gentleman’s impassioned oratory, I wonder whether he ought to take the Bill a step further, in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), and make it clear that it is above and beyond European law by putting in a “notwithstanding” clause. It would say, “Notwithstanding the European Communities Act 1972”, and that would make things absolutely certain.