Productivity Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Main Page: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Wallace of Saltaire's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(7 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Henley
Obviously the level of employees coming in from other countries has an influence on wages and employment in this country. The noble Lord is right to point that out.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
My Lords, there is substantial evidence that a large number of companies are using the new apprentice levy to train people already employed, often in mid-executive positions, rather than going out and finding young people and training them up as new apprentices, which is what one understood the scheme was for. Are the Government going to look into that and do their best to persuade companies that they should be training young apprentices as the first priority?
Lord Henley
The noble Lord is right to point that out. It is anecdotal evidence at this stage, but it is something that we should certainly look at.