Apprenticeships (Alternative English Completion Conditions) Regulations 2012

Baroness Sharp of Guildford Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Grand Committee

[Baroness Byford]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for explaining the reasoning behind the regulations. I reinforce again my commitment to apprenticeships, which are hugely important across whatever aspect of work people are able to secure. Apprenticeships are a wonderful way of learning. As the Minister rightly said, mentoring and the passing on of skills and knowledge are crucial in all this.

I apologise for not taking part in the Bill to which the Minister referred. Looking at Schedule 1, I was intrigued to see the fishing industry, which relates to the Minister’s background, listed. I rise to speak to ask for a little more clarification on that. One of the things that struck me was that the fishing industry, which the Minister knows so well, sometimes has restrictions on the days when it can sail. Therefore, I wondered whether there was enough flexibility for the apprentice to be able to complete their six months within six months or whether, under those circumstances—maybe because the ship cannot go out to sea—they could take a longer period. I am not being critical; it is because of my own ignorance that I am raising this particular issue.

Another question arises: if, for any reason, the person is made redundant for obviously commercial reasons, is that apprentice then able to transfer to another fisherman, for example, and reallocate the time that they have done already, or do they have to start afresh? I may have missed this when I was looking through the papers on this order, but I am not clear and I seek clarification.

I agree with the Minister that this is a unique opportunity. It is a shame that, over many years, apprenticeships have been perhaps underrated and undervalued. I am glad that the Government have taken up the role and are much more committed to encouraging and promoting apprenticeships. However, I seek clarification from the Minister.

[Baroness Sharp of Guildford]

My Lords, I too would like to thank the Minister for her explanation of the statutory instrument and I apologise for arriving late. The Committee moved on more quickly than I had anticipated.

I have two questions. First, am I right in thinking that these alternative regulations apply to relatively few young people? Given that this is an Olympic year, perhaps the numbers under Schedule 3 are rather greater than they might otherwise be, but the numbers under Schedule 1 are relatively small. On the issue of those made redundant, it will be impossible to tell because we do not know who might be made redundant. However, the total number of young people to whom these instruments might apply is relatively small.

The other thing to note, of course, is that these regulations are the result of an amendment that was carried when we discussed the Bill. At that point, we discussed at some length what would happen to those who were made redundant, and this has been put in specifically to make sure that there is a way forward for those who have more or less completed their apprenticeships. I am very pleased to see that. Perhaps the Minister could respond on the relative numbers in relation to the total number of apprenticeships.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green]

My Lords, I too thank the Minister for her explanation. I make no apologies for repeating a number of questions and concerns expressed by my honourable friend in the other place, Mr Gordon Marsden, as we—the royal “we”—are still awaiting written responses from the Minister.

On the question of quality, I was looking at the report of the Eighth Delegated Legislation Committee and read through the Minister’s contribution. At one point, he said:

“There are those who feel that I have gone too far on quality”.—[Official Report, Commons, Eighth Delegated Legislation Committee, 17/4/12; col. 3.]

I do not think that we have gone too far on quality, even allowing for a certain amount of his ministerial flamboyance, as I would describe it, in a nice way. I do not question his integrity or commitment on this issue but I do think there is no room for complacency

I listened carefully to what the noble Baroness said in her opening statement, where she described a fairly traditional approach to an apprenticeship. I do not know if noble Lords had the opportunity to watch a recent “Panorama” programme on apprenticeships which showed, unfortunately, a significant amount of exploitation of young people, who were led to believe that they were going to get training from this particular subcontractor. There was little or no training whatever. It was in no way the kind of quality we should expect.