Oral Answers to Questions

Nadine Dorries Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Lady is right to quote the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development on this issue, because it supports much of the coalition Government’s better regulation agenda in this area. She will know that the unfair dismissal period is out to consultation. A number of responses are very much in favour of the proposal, but she would not expect me to prejudge the consultation today.

[Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)]

13. How many people in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency, (b) the south-east midlands and (c) England have started an apprenticeship in 2011.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

I am beginning to appreciate that there is a lot of heavy lifting involved in being acting Minister responsible for skills.

In the first three quarters of this academic year, 420 apprenticeships have been started in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency. It is not possible to quantify the number of apprenticeships started in the south-east midlands region, but 28,230 have been started in the east of England.

[Nadine Dorries]

In 2013, Centre Parcs will open in my constituency, and I have already turned the first sod of earth. It will need a wide variety of employees, from accountants, HR professionals and medical staff to caterers, landscape gardeners and beauticians, all of whom require skills. What will the Government do further to relieve the burden on employers who wish to take on apprentices, so that we can continue with the impressive trend that we have started already?

[Vince Cable]

To reduce what is unfortunately the substantial amount of bureaucracy in this area, we are greatly simplifying the number of funding channels and the number of institutions and introducing outcome-based payments for large employers that are training providers. The point behind the hon. Lady’s question is that apprenticeships and vocational training are a great success story for employers, who are beginning to see their real advantages, for young people, who see benefits for their own careers, and for the Government, who have prioritised them and seen the results.