Jobs Market: Graduates
Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Bishop of London(12 months ago)
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Baroness Barran (Con)
The Government are not considering that at the moment, and I remind the House that teacher numbers are at an all-time high, at over 468,000.
The Lord Bishop of London
My Lords, I welcome both the Government’s efforts to make apprenticeships more accessible to ensure that people can be supported into key occupations and the expansion of this into the health service, especially with the recent NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. In healthcare professions, cover is required for apprentices’ roles when they are studying. Those apprentices are often on full-time salaries, so backfilled funding will have to be found to ensure that those workplaces can cope. As this cannot be covered by the apprenticeship levy, what support are the Government offering to ensure that those apprenticeship routes can be successful?
Baroness Barran (Con)
The Government are committed to the development of apprenticeships at all levels, including, for example, degree apprenticeships for nurses in the NHS. In relation to the earlier question, we are also exploring teacher apprenticeships. I will have to write to the right reverend Prelate on the specifics of the funding of backfilling.
Working-Age Disabled Adults
Debate between Baroness Barran and Lord Bishop of London
Baroness Barran
The noble Baroness is right that that strategy has not been produced. However, a huge amount of work is going on across key government departments—housing, health and social care and DWP—to try to address many of the issues to which she refers.
The Lord Bishop of London
My Lords, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recently stated that the UK was going backwards in terms of independent living and went on to say that it was a human catastrophe. In the Minister’s view, are we are doing enough to involve disabled people in producing, designing and providing better solutions for independent living?
Baroness Barran
The co-creation of services to which the right reverend Prelate refers is a crucial part of our work going forward and that taking place in relation to the Green Paper.