Apprenticeships

Baroness Sharp of Guildford Excerpts

Thursday 14th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sharp of Guildford]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Wall, for initiating this important debate. I declare an interest as a member of the corporation of Guildford College and as a member of the Skills Commission, an all-party group composed of Members of Parliament and lay members.

As the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, has indicated, many of us learn as much by doing as by listening. Apprenticeships remain probably the most effective way of passing on complex practical skills. In this country we have a long tradition of craft skills. It goes back to the Middle Ages and the concepts of guilds, master craftsmen, journeymen and apprentices. In those days the apprentice was treated very much as the son of the master craftsman. He was mentored, as the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, indicated, and taken within the family of the learning group. Sadly, that tradition was lost in this country during the Industrial Revolution. It was retained in some craft skills. This House is probably a tribute to the craft skills of the mid-Victorian era. In the mass production industries, the sheer brutality of the Industrial Revolution led to the loss of the master-child relationship that one saw in the concept of apprentices. Interestingly, in Germany and many north European countries, which were industrialised later, it was retained. The tradition of training apprentices, as we all know, remained in those countries and is one that we now look to as an example of what we might follow.

Even within mass production, of course, the craft skills—the more skilled members of the industry—were trained through apprenticeships right through to the 1950s and 1960s. Many of our leading industrialists entered industry through this route and moved first into middle management and subsequently into top management through the apprenticeship route. However, this route collapsed with the collapse of manufacturing industry in this country in the 1970s and the 1980s. Its nadir was reached in the 1990s. As the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, mentioned, in 1997, only 60,000 young people entered apprenticeships.

We need to pay tribute to the previous Government for what they did. It began with the report from Sir John Cassels in 1995 and the introduction of the modern apprenticeship, and moved forward very positively under the new Labour Government of 1997. The modern apprenticeship was originally aimed at a level 3 qualification, which is equivalent to A-level, but I rather regret that the concept of the modern apprenticeship was watered down. In 2001 it became a level 2 qualification, equivalent to GCSE, and the level 3 apprenticeship was renamed the advanced apprenticeship. In 2001, approximately 150,000 young people entered apprenticeships. Today, the figure is almost 250,000 young people—an increase of roughly 100,000 over that period—and more are coming through, although the increase is not very large. Interestingly enough, 100,000 young people aged 16 to 18 are now entering apprenticeships—85,000 in the 19-to-24 age group and 56,000 in the 25-plus age group. Over the past few years, since the beginning of the recession in 2007, numbers in that 16-to-18 group have remained very much the same, but we have seen—partly because government money has been available—a very substantial increase in the number of those over 19, and particularly in the over-25s, in the past few years, which I very much welcome. I know that employers are keen to foster this. However, we are, of course, still a long way off the 400,000 target set out in the Leitch report. As I say, in many senses the recession has set back the whole process.

I am pleased that this Government share the previous Government’s view of the importance of apprenticeships and, indeed, the importance of their being employer-based. One of the first acts of this Government was to shift £150 million from Train to Gain into adult apprenticeships, which indicates how important they regard the whole area as being. My honourable friend John Hayes, the Minister for Skills, said:

“The most important objective of all is to make Apprenticeships the primary, though I must stress not the only, means for people to gain skills in the workplace ... the Government is committed to increasing the supply of Apprenticeships, and improving the quality of the training offered, to make them better suited to the needs of employers and learners alike”.

I wish to raise three issues about the development of apprenticeships. My first issue has been referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Wall, and the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, and concerns the supply of apprenticeships and the degree to which employers are willing to take on apprentices, particularly those in the 16-to-18 age group. The CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce complain about skills shortages, and indeed about the immigration cap on skilled people, but their own record in training across industry as a whole leaves something to be desired.

There are, of course, outstanding examples of good training provision such as that provided by Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems. It is interesting to note that there are 15,000 applicants for the approximately 80 places on offer at BAE Systems. It is more difficult to get an apprentice place at BAE Systems than it is to get into Oxford or Cambridge. As the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wall, mentioned, the bureaucracy puts off a lot of small and medium-sized businesses. The previous Government and this Government are exploring the development of group training associations to help with that problem. I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, when I say that, as well as companies offering apprenticeships, let us also see the growth of apprenticeships in the public sector. This initiative was begun by the previous Government and I hope that this Government will carry it forward.

My second issue concerns careers guidance. As I say, I have been a member of the Skills Commission for some time. A couple of years back, it produced a report on apprenticeships. We were horrified to discover from the Edge survey that a typical teacher had very little concept of what apprenticeships were about. To a great extent, teachers in secondary education go from school into college and back into teaching in schools and have no experience of the outside world. The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 contains a section that was debated at length in this House and required that all young people should get a broad careers education and that they should be told specifically about apprenticeships. I gather that the directive that would implement this section is being held up. I ask the Minister why this is so and whether it will be implemented. It is extremely important that it is as so many teachers do not understand what apprenticeships are about.

The other important issue I wish to raise is that of progression into higher education. The numbers moving into higher education are pitifully small—something like 2 to 4 per cent of apprentices go into higher education. It is vital that this is seen as an equivalent route. It is a level 3 qualification. It is the same as A-level and it really must be seen as an equivalent route. It is very important that apprenticeships are given equal status. They are an extremely useful way for young people to learn the skills that we need. This Government support them and I am delighted that that is so. I hope that we shall see them moving from strength to strength.