Apprenticeships

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Thursday 14th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Warwick]

My Lords, I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Wall, for securing this debate. It is both important and timely.

It was an American commentator who said, “Cheer Up. The worst is yet to come!”. We know that the economy has very difficult challenges ahead but fundamental to economic recovery will be the issue of skills and training. In my view, apprenticeships are the ideal vehicles for correcting our skills deficit.

I see apprenticeship training as leading from the top—it is mentoring—so that others can achieve their potential. Some years ago when I worked for a company, a common phrase was applied if things went wrong. It was, “Assistant heads must roll!”. That ethos is not the way to encourage and nurture talent.

A man who ran a small business once said, “When I started my business, I had nothing. Fifteen years later, I still have some of it left”. With increased bureaucracy and red tape over the past few years, it has been very difficult for small businessmen to afford to take on trainee apprentices, yet small business is the cornerstone of our economy, and high-quality training opportunities such as apprenticeships are vital to supporting its growth and success.

I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, on raising the profile of the apprentice through his BBC television series. I watched the programme last night and noted that he said he did not want “steady Eddies” or “cautious Carols”. I understand by that that he is looking for young people with initiative who are prepared to take risks and to listen and learn while they earn. I congratulate him on raising the profile.

However, there are other ways of building that profile. I feel that there is a perception problem when it comes to apprentices. Over the past few years, there has perhaps been a perception that an academic degree from a university is somehow superior to practical vocational skills. That is not the case and we have to address that perception problem. Just about every noble Lord who has spoken so far has come up with very practical ideas about what we should do to improve the apprenticeships environment.

I want to tackle the problem of perception. In my submission the Government should consider a national, annual apprenticeship day in every local authority to celebrate—I emphasise that word—what apprenticeships have achieved and what they contribute to this country. What about issuing a special stamp which could celebrate some of the world’s most famous apprentices, such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Henry Ford, Vincent van Gogh, Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United, and the late designer Alexander McQueen? That would certainly increase the profile of apprentices and give them a sense of pride in their achievements.

Edge, the apprenticeship organisation, says that two-thirds of teachers regard their knowledge of apprenticeships as poor and that only one in four teachers recommends apprenticeships in preference to higher education. I believe that the Department of Education should encourage all secondary schools to provide their students with presentations from training providers, employers and apprentices themselves.

It is important to make the point that only two per cent of apprenticeships go to girls. We need to encourage more girls to look at engineering, science, technology and mathematics. Perhaps Karren Brady, a colleague of the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, could help to promote the message that more girls should look at becoming apprentices.

The ceremony associated with obtaining a degree should be expanded to apprenticeships. It could be localised and made appropriate to different parts of the country. That would give apprentices a sense of civic pride in their area, and school pupils would see that and aspire to join their ranks. I would go even further. I would like to see a royal society of apprenticeships, rather like the Law Society or the British Medical Association, with a social and professional network similar to that provided by universities.

Apprenticeships also need to become part of the growth industries such as IT, the green economy and high-tech engineering. The sports and recreation industries are large wealth creators for this country, so they should be part of the expansion of apprenticeships. My father was a professional cricketer and semi-professional footballer. He played cricket for Warwickshire. His apprenticeship involved little more than helping to lay out the kit and polish the boots of the first team squad which he eventually got selected for. Nowadays many professional sports, especially soccer, encourage some training in business and other skills, but it is still patchy and needs improving. There are still too many who fail to make the grade as professional sportsmen and have no other skill training to fall back on, so please do not neglect the sports and recreation industry.

I do not see higher education and further education as competitors. The university sector can play an important role in assisting the elevation of the image of practical learning. For some years I had the privilege of being chancellor of Bournemouth University, which places a high emphasis on education and meeting the practical needs of employers. We used to say that you will not be able to study the history of punk rock at Bournemouth University.

We need to develop different levels of training, and that should start with the re-engagement of those outside the workforce and might involve bite-size, modular chunks of learning. Of course that could lead to a more focused level 2, full apprenticeships at level 3 and advanced apprenticeships at levels 4 and 5. Quality control could be monitored through a simpler form of Ofsted-like report. The point was made earlier by other noble Lords that if we ignore the unemployed and do not give them a chance, we shall be creating a bigger problem for the future.

I fully agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Wall, that apprenticeships should not be seen as cheap labour. There is ample research to show that apprenticeships bring value to employers as well as providing expertise to the apprentices. They are not a problem; they are part of the solution to growing the economy again. The future has arrived. We must recognise it and embrace this opportunity.