Apprenticeships

Lord Touhig Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, there is certainly an action plan to increase the number of apprentices with a disability throughout the workforce through all sorts of employers. Certainly, government employers will be included in that plan.

[Lord Touhig]

My Lords, further to the Answer that the Minister gave to my noble friend Lady Healy, on 6 November Mr Edward Thompson, the children’s Minister, speaking at the Education Select Committee about allowing health and education care plan funding to be used to help youngsters with special educational needs into apprenticeships, said:

“I think a strong case has been made for inclusion of apprenticeships. I am minded to include them in the scope of the Bill”.

Will the Minister say whether this is now government policy?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I am not sure whether we have got to the point of making it government policy in the Bill, but the noble Lord will know that the Government have committed to take on board the action plan and the recommendations that have come from the Little report. We are looking at them at the moment and hope to implement them, which should make a great difference to the way in which employers are able to give apprenticeships to those with different forms of disability and also to the young people seeking to go down those pathways.