Unemployment: Young People

Lord Bishop of Liverpool Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, I have actually forgotten that particular number, though I did know it. I will commit to writing with the precise number, which has fallen out of my head. I am sorry.

[The Lord Bishop of Liverpool]

My Lords, the Bishops very much welcome the development of apprenticeship schemes. However, is the Minister aware that small businesses very often lose out on the major apprenticeship schemes? Is he aware of the Apprenticeship Training Agency in Liverpool that brings together the Chambers of Commerce, the city council and the colleges in providing apprenticeships for small and medium-sized enterprises? If so, would he like to replicate that model elsewhere?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, the point about the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises is a very good one. Last week, we announced a subsidy to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to take on an extra 20,000 apprenticeships with an incentive of £1,500 a time. One of the issues with SMEs is that they need to have comfort that they can go on employing an apprentice for a long time. That is the key issue to get SMEs back into this particular support.