Apprenticeships: Levy

Lord Knight of Weymouth Excerpts

Tuesday 13th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

Absolutely, and I can reassure the noble and learned Baroness that the Institute for Apprenticeships is responsible for quality and standards. It is the institute’s sole job to work closely with employers to ensure that the quality of each apprenticeship is high, which can take some time, and that the apprenticeship itself is what employers want, thus helping to increase skill levels in this country. That is our aim.

[Lord Knight of Weymouth (Lab)]

My Lords, there has been a 30% year-on-year fall in apprenticeship starts by under-19s. That should be no surprise because, despite this being a great applied qualification, the pipeline is being strangled by the EBacc squeezing out applied learning from the curriculum. STEM is becoming S and M in schools, as technology and engineering are being taken out, leaving only science and maths. When are our schools policy and our skills policy going to align?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I have mentioned to the House before that we have a National Careers Service up and running. It is essential in giving proper careers advice that employers in particular can go into schools and address, and hopefully garner, the interest of pupils. We are trying to address the skills shortages. STEM skills and occupational sectors, including the digital side, are well represented in our move from frameworks to greater standards and to increasing the skills level in our country.